News index 2003	
December
22nd 	Fines Lottery at Faslane Court
22nd December 2003 
Fines Lottery at Faslane Court	

Two peace activists who appeared in Helensburgh District Court yesterday were fined £100, prompting comparison with their two friends, who took part in the same action but were fined much more heavily at a previous trial. 
On trial yesterday were Morag Balfour (28), from Glenrothes, and David Mackenzie (59), from Tillicoultry. They took part in a four-person blockade of the north gate of the base on 6th February this year, along with Jane Tallents and Joy Mitchell. With the help of other friends at the south gate of the base, they had for some time prevented worker traffic from going in.
While accepting that they had blocked the gateway, both accused argued that their actions were justified. Morag, using photographs, detailed the diseases and birth malformations that would be caused by radiation after a Trident attack. David reminded the court that at the time of the blockade war with Iraq was imminent and Geoff Hoon had twice threatened to use Trident there.
Giving evidence for the defence Joy said that our nuclear weapons gave the worst possible example to our young people and Jane told each official in the court in turn that she loved them and did not want them to experience the horrors of a nuclear attack.
Both Morag and David were fined £100 and told that if they did not pay within 28 days a Supervised Attendance Order* would come into force automatically. When Joy and Jane were tried for the identical alleged offence on the 25th August they were given fines of £250 and £290 respectively.
David Mackenzie said: “The difference between these fines is not difficult to explain. It is not because of any material difference in the circumstances, it is simply down to the fact that Joy and Joan were up before Justice of the Peace Fraser Gillies and today Morag and I had the more genial and empathetic Mr. Duncan. It’s ridiculous, but at the end of the day it does not make a lot of difference since not one of the four of us has been deterred by this court which on every occasion refuses to look at the real and substantial issue the threat of mass murder.”
*An order of the Scottish Courts which in theory should provide opportunities for the convicted person to address their offending behaviour and is likely to have an element of community service.

15th	Festive Blockade at Nuclear Weapon Base
15th December 2003 
Festive Blockade at Nuclear Weapon Base	

A surprise festive blockade by peace activists is preventing workers getting into Faslane naval base in Scotland, leading to long tailbacks of traffic. 
The blockade began this morning at 7 a.m. as 7 activists, from Trident Ploughshares’ "Local heroes" affinity group, lay down in the entrance to the north gate of the base and attempted to lock on to each other by linking their arms through tubes and pipes which had been disguised as outsize festive crackers. A banner gives the message "peace is not just for Christmas".
Protesters from Faslane Peace Camp blockaded the south gate.
Those attempting to lock-on at the north gate are: and Andrew Lewis from Glasgow; and Jane Tallents from Helensburgh: Morag Balfour, Jim Balfour, Jean Oliver, Dave from Glenrothes: and David Mackenzie from Tillicoultry.
The blockade is a part of the Trident Ploughshares "Non-stop Nuke-stop" campaign, which aims to cause significant disruption at least once every month at the base, which is home to Britain’s Trident nuclear weapon submarines.
A spokesperson said: "It has worked a treat. This is not a normal workplace carrying out legitimate work. Its business is the deployment of weapons of mass murder. We are delighted to have been able to put even a small spoke in the wheel of Trident."
	
10th	Faslane Peace Camper in Trident Area
10th December 2003 
FPC Press Briefing
Faslane Peace Camper in Trident Area	

Last night (Tuesday 9th December) Fungus of Faslane Peace Camp entered Faslane naval base and got right to the Trident area. 
The bandit alarm went off at 8 p.m. She perched on top of the police post at the entrance to Trident berth 12 and stayed there until 11p.m., eventually coming down voluntarily when the scaffolding team were arriving and she was offered hot chocolate by the Base Commander!
She also spray-painted the entrance to the berth with "Merry Xmas from Faslane Peace Camp - No War".
Fungus has now been released after being charged with cutting a hole in the fence and remaining in a protected area.
Contact Faslane Peace Camp 01436 820901.
	
8th	£50 for Kicking Police, £100 for Peaceful Sit-down!
8th December 2003 
£50 for Kicking Police, £100 for Peaceful Sit-down!	

Anti-Trident campaigners are incensed by what they see as the latest example of the lack of justice at Helensburgh District Court after a man convicted of police assault was given half the fine handed down to two people involved in a peaceful sit-down at Faslane naval base. 
The £50 fine was given today by Justice of the Peace Bert Alexander to a man who pled guilty to breaching the peace and kicking a police officer during a local fracas. On trial for taking part in the really Big Blockade on 22nd April this year were Jane Smith (49), a teacher from Granton-on Spey, and Owen English (20), a student from Oxford. Police witnesses agreed that the behaviour of Jane and Owen had been peaceful and non-violent, and had caused no alarm.
Summing up her defence Jane told that the charge against her was ironical, given the contrast between her behaviour and the machinery of war that lay beyond the gate she had been sitting at. At the same time she wanted to disturb “that enforced peace that is known as complacency, the complacency which can accept the incineration of millions of children and the killing of innocent Iraqis.” Owen was convinced he was justified in what he did, even if the court found him guilty of breaching the peace.
JP Alexander, accepting the Crown argument that their behaviour had been “flagrant”, found them both guilty and fined them each £100. Jane was adamant that she would neither pay the fine nor submit to a Supervised Attendance order.
A Trident Ploughshares spokesperson said: “The court today gave a crystal clear demonstration of its values. Actual and deliberate physical violence against a person is less serious than causing some temporary disruption and irritation, when the reason for the latter is a challenge to the behaviour of the state. How we wish these magistrates would grasp the profoundly damaging signals they are giving out?”
Meanwhile Trident Ploughshares activists Matt Bury and Sue Brackenbury appeared at Plymouth Crown Court today to plead not guilty to charges of going equipped to commit criminal damage to HMS Vanguard on 22nd September. Sue is on remand and has been returned to Eastwood Park prison.*
[* Sue Brackenbury HT 6792 HMP Eastwood Park, Falfield, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire. GL12]

	

November
20th 	Derby Rolls Royce Blockaders Found Guilty
20th November 2003 
FPC Press Briefing
Derby Rolls Royce Blockaders Found Guilty
Two and a half day trial	

The trial of eight anti-nuclear protesters finished today at Derby Magistrates Court after a hearing lasting two and a half days. Protesters from Faslane Peace Camp and Trident Ploughshares had blockaded the gates of Rolls Royce in Derby during an action to highlight Rolls Royce’s part in the illegal UK nuclear weapons programme. 
The blockade at Rolls Royce was part of a week of actions and events during Faslane Peace Camp’s 21st Birthday last June. Evidence produced during the trial revealed the success of the blockade. The site employs two thousand people, and with both gates blocked it produced major tailbacks and gridlock, with disruption back to a dual carriageway.
The court refused to allow the defence to quote International Law, ruling that "International Law is a political issue and not to be discussed in this court." Activists insisted that their action was to uphold Nuremberg Principles and was morally and legally right.
The seven who attended court were found guilty of Public Order Act section 5 offences and fined £200 plus £200 court costs each. One protester was fined a further £50 for initially giving her name as Pat Freeborn when arrested. Sue Brackenbury was brought to court in handcuffs each day as she is being held on remand for a separate charge of trying to disarm a Trident submarine during its current refit at Devonport.
One protester had his charge of Police Assault dropped. He had been dragged from a gate by police after pressure points were used to remove him. All the protesters strongly refuted his charge and insisted that they were experienced protesters and remained peaceful throughout. The police video of the action showed there was no evidence of assault.
The defendants were saddened by the unprofessional behaviour of the police. There was clearly fabricated police evidence in court, with an officer saying that the protesters had charged at 10 to 20 employees during the blockade. The police again were not able to show video evidence or produce witnesses. Indeed the defence pointed out that there were only 4 or 5 security guards on the gate and that the protesters had strenuously avoided knocking anyone, saying "remaining peaceful was paramount."
At the time of the action one police officer had made his attitude clear in a revealing and outrageous comment, saying "Why do they have to dress like Big Issue sellers, why can’t they be human or something?". Prescription medication was also withheld during their time in police custody, and no right of reply to charges was allowed at the time of arrest.
One of the defendants said "The UK government went to war and killed many people in Iraq based on dubious international law. Meanwhile in court we were not allowed to base our defence on International Law. This is despite our action clearly designed to point out that Britain’s illegal WMD system is maintained in part here at Derby."
Rolls Royce make and refurbish fuel rods for the nuclear reactor cores of the British Trident Vanguard class of submarine. Rolls Royce manufacture and export military equipment to forty-seven countries world-wide regardless of human rights abuses within those countries.
Contact Faslane Peace Camp 01436 820901
	
16th	Fairford Antiwar Trials Update
16th November 2003 
Update
Fairford Antiwar Trials Update	

Yesterday at Gloucester Crown Court Owen English was found Not Guilty of criminal damage to the main gate at Fairford during an antiwar demonstration there on February the 23rd. The jury found Geoffrey Cornock Guilty of criminal damage and he was fined £500 and given a two-year Conditional Discharge. 
The jury found Kate Holcombe Not Guilty of criminal damage, but Guilty of having been "Reckless" as to whether Ministry of Defence property was damaged. (This was for pulling on a rope - Ludicrous!) She was given a two-year Conditional Discharge and no financial penalty. All of the jury’s verdicts were unanimous
Upcoming calendar
DECEMBER 15th: Directions hearing - Transfer of the three cases from Gloucester to Bristol Crown Court. Setting of a definite date for the hearing on the Iraq war . ( Presiding Judge: Mr. Justice Butterfield .)
Late JANUARY, or early February: Hearing on the legality of the war . ( Expected to last one week.)
Two questions: (1) Did the war on Iraq breach international law ?
(2) Was the war criminal under UK domestic law ?
MARCH the 8th: Trial of Paul Milling and Margaret Jones . ( Expected to last four weeks.)
The other two trials are expected to follow .
	
13th	Arresting Me and Not Tommy Sheridan is Discrimination, Says Activist
Arresting Me and Not Tommy Sheridan is Discrimination, Says Activist	

Today Helensburgh District Court rejected a submission by a peace activist that his human rights were breached when police arrested him at a Faslane blockade and did not arrest MSP Tommy Sheridan. 
71 year-old Alan Wilkie from Edinburgh was one of the 160 people arrested at the blockade of Faslane naval base on 22nd April this year and was charged with a breach of the peace. Today’s legal debate followed his lodging of what is known as a “devolution issue” which is a way of arguing that Scots Law or legal practice is at odds with the European Convention on Human Rights.
Alan submitted that his human rights had been breached by the arrest, under Article 10 of the Convention, which guarantees freedom of expression, under Article 11, which confirms the right of assembly and association, and, critically, under Article 14, which prohibits any discrimination in relation to these rights.
The core of his complaint is that while he was fairly quickly arrested at the blockade, another group were allowed to continue sitting in the roadway for hours without arrest. This group were mainly members of the Scottish Socialist party and included Tommy Sheridan, along with Rosie Kane, Frances Curran and Carolyn Leckie, all three of whom were elected MSPs at the Scottish Parliament elections the following week. Alan claimed that the police decided not to arrest this group because they did not want to give them additional publicity just before the elections. This different treatment, based on Tommy’s status and not on any other factor, amounted to discrimination in terms of Article 14. Alan also submitted that although the Convention allows such restrictions to Articles 10 and 11 as are “necessary in a democratic society”, any restrictions must without exception must be applied in a lawful and non-discriminatory way. He added that the interests of the state to which any restrictions to the Articles relate must be themselves lawful and valid and he put it to the court that Faslane, as the home base of Trident, which Geoff Hoon had three times threatened to use in Iraq, was not a valid interest in international humanitarian law.
Procurator Fiscal Rona Baird argued that the court was bound by the European Courts decision re the appeal of Caroline Lucas against a breach of the peace conviction for a Faslane blockade. Alan had dealt with this case in his submission and had pointed out that it was not relevant, especially because Article 14 had not been a part of Caroline’s case.
Although Justice of the Peace Viv Dance repelled Alan’s submission she did give him leave to appeal her decision to the High Court.
Alan Wilkie said: “Respect for human rights is one of the foundations of a democratic society. Sadly in its response to my devolution issue plea today Helensburgh District Court failed this test.”
	
10th	Remand for Anti-Trident Activist
10th November 2003 
Remand for Anti-Trident Activist	

Sue Brackenbury, one of the women who took part in an anti-Trident action at Devonport naval dockyard yesterday, has been remanded in custody. 
Trident Ploughshares pledger Susan Brackenbury (28), from Faslane Peace Camp in Scotland, and Shirley Law (57), from Plymouth, a member of South West Women for Peace, were arrested as they entered the dockyard in the early hours of Sunday morning with the intention of boarding Trident nuclear missile submarine HMS Vanguard and doing damage to either delay its re-fit or take it out of service. They have been charged with criminal damage and going equipped to cause criminal damage.
At today’s hearing in Plymouth Magistrates Court the women pled not guilty to both charges and stated their preference for a Crown Court trial. Since she breached bail conditions by approaching the dockyard Sue has been remanded in custody. She will be held in Eastwood Park* prison in Gloucester-shire until the next hearing on 22nd December. There will also be a hearing on 17th November, by video link, to deal with the charge against Sue relating to 22nd September when she was arrested with Matt Bury at the dockyard’s perimeter fence.
A Trident Ploughshares spokesperson said: “Although Sue has been jailed and both women are being treated as criminals the real crime is Trident and the real criminals are those who are ensuring that it remains a threat to the world. Both Sue and Shirley are looking forward to putting to a Crown Court jury the unanswerable case against weapons of mass destruction.”
*HMP Eastwood Park Falfield Wotton-under-Edge Glos GL12 8DB 01454 262100
	
9th	Anti-Trident Activists Inside Devonport Dockyard Again
9th November 2003 
Anti-Trident Activists Inside Devonport Dockyard Again	

Two peace activists have been arrested this morning after entering Devonport naval dockyard in Plymouth. 
Trident Ploughshares pledger Susan Brackenbury, and Shirley Law, a member of South West Women for Peace, entered the dockyard in the early hours of this morning with the intention of boarding Trident nuclear missile submarine HMS Vanguard and doing damage to either delay its re-fit or take it out of service. They are being held at the city’s Charles Cross police station.
Shirley Law, 57 from Plymouth, said, “The reason for my entering the dockyard was to do my best to disarm HMS Vanguard. I have grave concerns about the safety aspects & the health risks to the local environment and the population of Plymouth. Today is “Remembrance Sunday” so my action is for all victims of war, whether military or civilian and those who died or survived the bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki”
Susan Brackenbury, 28, of Faslane Peace Camp in Scotland said, “This action today is to disarm Trident so we don’t hear of people crying for their loved ones, due to the actions of an order to use nuclear missiles given. Our acts of disarmament are intended to stop ongoing criminal activities under well recognised principles of international law”
Sue is due to appear in court on Tuesday along with Matt Bury in connection with their attempt to get to HMS Vanguard on 22nd September.
Update: Sue and Shirley were arrested at 4.30am on Remembrance Sunday. Shirley has since been released early evening of Sunday while Sue will be kept overnight because of breach of her bail. Both are due to attend Plymouth Magistrates at 9.30 Monday morning.
They are charged on two counts, of Criminal Damage to a chain-link fence within the dockyard, having climbed the outer wall; and of Going Equipped to cause Criminal Damage to a Trident submarine.

	

	
October
28th 	Long Tailbacks as Faslane Gate Shut by Protest
28th October 2003 
Long Tailbacks as Faslane Gate Shut by Protest	

The North Gateway into Faslane Naval Base is currently closed to vehicles by the protests of five activists. They are demanding that the UK fulfill its international obligations to work towards nuclear disarmament. 
The peaceful direct action started at 7am, and long tailbacks formed as workers arriving for the morning had to use an alternative entrance, bringing traffic speeds to below walking pace.
The noise of an angle-grinder and hammering can be heard from behind the screens that the Ministry of Defence Police have put up around the protesters. Cutting the tubes will not be quick and it is expected that the entrance will be blocked for another few hours.
Three of the protesters are residents of Faslane Peace Camp while another two are visitors from Edinburgh. All are linked by hands through steel tubes across the roadway preventing vehicle access. One banner reads "Masses of WMD’s Here!" with obvious references to the recent invasion of Iraq and the lack of WMD’s found there.
A spokesperson continued, "Look at the military and humanitarian disaster that the US and UK have made in Iraq. UK policies to its own WMD’s (Trident nuclear weapons) are another disaster, encouraging their proliferation and development worldwide with all the obvious dangers that entails."
	
16th	Nuclear Weapon Convoy Breakdown in National Park
16th October 2003 
Nuclear Weapon Convoy Breakdown in National Park	

Today a UK nuclear weapon convoy, on its way from the Trident base at Coulport to the bomb factory at Burghfield in England, was held up in Loch Lomond National park for around an hour due to a mechanical fault. 
During the hold-up the convoy was parked in a lay-by one mile north of the Arden roundabout on the A82 within the Loch Lomond National Park. It is believed that the convoy was carrying 8 Trident warheads, equivalent to the firepower of 50 Hiroshimas.
The convoy traveled north to Coulport on Monday when it was stopped twice by the actions of protesters, five of whom were arrested.
A Nukewatch spokesperson said: “Searching for WMD is a lot easier in Scotland than Iraq, due to the huge scale of the Trident operation and the blatant disregard of the UK government for humanitarian law.”
	
15th	Court Issues Arrest Warrant For Ulla Roder
15th October 2003 
Court Issues Arrest Warrant For Ulla Roder
Trial Date Cancelled	

When peace campaigner Ulla Roder failed to appear for a pre-trial hearing today at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, a warrant was issued for her arrest. This means that her trial will not start on the 28th October, as previously scheduled. 
Today’s hearing in Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court was to debate the admissibility of expert witnesses to support Ulla’s special defence. Her solicitor, Aamer Anwar, could not explain Ulla’s absence as he had not been able to contact her. It is almost certain that a warrant for her arrest will be issued if she does not appear next Wednesday.
A Trident Ploughshares spokesperson said: “We don’t know why Ulla did not appear, but if it is because she is frustrated with Kirkcaldy Sheriff court and is boycotting it, we can understand that.”
The trial is scheduled to begin on 28th October
	
10th	Ulla Roder Hearing Adjourned Again
10th October 2003 
Ulla Roder Hearing Adjourned Again	

A pre-trial hearing for peace activist Ulla Roder, accused of damaging a Tornado jet at Leuchars airbase in Scotland in March, was adjourned today until next Wednesday, 15th October at 11 a.m., due to her non-appearance. 
Today’s hearing in Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court was to debate the admissibility of expert witnesses to support Ulla’s special defence. Her solicitor, Aamer Anwar, could not explain Ulla’s absence as he had not been able to contact her. It is almost certain that a warrant for her arrest will be issued if she does not appear next Wednesday.
A Trident Ploughshares spokesperson said: “We don’t know why Ulla did not appear, but if it is because she is frustrated with Kirkcaldy Sheriff court and is boycotting it, we can understand that.”
The trial is scheduled to begin on 28th October
	
6th	Two Arrests This Morning at Devonport
6th October 2003 
Two Arrests This Morning at Devonport
Locals Vow Not to be Deterred	

Two more activists were arrested this morning at Devonport naval dockyards on the last day of the Trident Ploughshares anti-nuclear peace camp. As activists prepare to take down the disarmament camp, locals who organised the event vowed to continue the campaign for as long as Trident is on their doorstep. 
Local activist Matt Bury said:
“Once again it was great to be at today’s peaceful protest at Camels Head Gate. The arrests won’t deter us and as long as Trident is here we will be too. I just hope that the government listens to sense soon and gets rid of these useless nuclear weapons.”
Panda from Faslane peace camp and Nicholas Torr (31) from Falmouth were arrested at 7:35am while blockading the Camels Head Gate. They have been charged with obstructing the highway under Section 25 of The Highways Act and are being held at Crownhill police station. Supporters are currently gathering outside the station in support of Panda and Nicholas. These arrests bring the total number of arrests at this camp to 12.
David McKenzie of Trident Ploughshares said “What we want is for the British government to take responsibility for its criminal nuclear weapons policy and its total disregard for people’s safety.”
Update 4pm: Panda and Nicholas have both been released on bail charged with "Obstruction of the Highway". They are due to appear at Plymouth Magistrates Court on 22nd October.
	
5th	Devonport Update
5th October 2003 
Devonport Update	

The ten people arrested on Friday 3/10/3 (nine in a minibus and one in a car) were all released later that day. 
Eric Wallace, Lynn Bliss, Myra Garrett, Angela Broome, Zelda Jeffers and Ann Kobayashi were all been released on bail to return to Charles Street Police Station on 14th Nov. They were released without charge, except to return to the police station. Yongwook Jung, a student from South Korea has to return on the 17th Oct for interview as no interpreter was available for his interview. Elizabeth Knight, Kate Holcombe and Janet Thomas were all released without charge or bail after being held in custody for nearly 12 hours.
Under pressure from the police the Arnold Clark minibus in which nine activists were arrested was not returned.
There will be a mass blockade at Camels Head Gate at 6:30am on Monday 6/10/3.
	
3rd	9 Peace Activists Arrested This Morning In Plymouth
3rd October 2003 
9 Peace Activists Arrested This Morning In Plymouth
Second Day of Anti-Nuclear Camp	

At 7am this morning, nine peace activists from Trident Ploughshares were arrested in Plymouth while on their way to Devonport dockyards. 
The nine were Eric Wallace (67), Elizabeth Knight (50), Lynn Bliss (52), Myra Garrett, Angela Broome (68), Ann Kobayashi (63), Zelda Jeffers (55), Kate Holcombe and an as yet unnamed student. They were all arrested after being stopped by police on their way to the Devonport naval base. All nine are currently being held at Charles Cross police station and are facing charges of "Conspiracy to cause a public nuisance". Other peace activists from the camp are protesting outside the police station.
Peace activist Ivor Bernie said: “Once again our government is wasting its resources arresting peaceful protestors going about their duty, instead of helping them to disarm the UK’s illegal weapons of mass destruction.”
The anti-Trident campaign Trident Ploughshares began its five-day international disarmament camp yesterday in Plymouth. The camp, on Drakes Hill between Weston Mill Village and Burrington Way industrial Estate, will act as a focus for direct action against the refitting of the submarines in the Devonport dockyards.
Trident Ploughshares (TP, est. 1998) challenges the UK’s illegal and immoral possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons. TP activists pledge to dismantle the UK’s nuclear arsenal in a peaceful, non-violent, open and accountable manner. So far in the campaign there have been over 2000 arrests, 300 trials, 1,970 days spent in prison and £59,917 of fines and compensation orders.
PROGRAMME OF EVENTS
Saturday  leafleting/stalls/events in Plymouth centre10am-1pm/gathering in peace garden 1-2pm
Sunday  multi-faith service at HMS Drake  2:30-3pm followed by candlelit vigil
Monday  mass blockade at Devonport
	
2nd	Devonport Challenge to Britains Weapons of Mass Destruction
2nd October 2003 
Devonport Challenge to Britains Weapons of Mass Destruction
Anti-Nuclear Camp Begins at Plymouth	

The anti-Trident campaign Trident Ploughshares starts its five-day international disarmament camp today in Plymouth. The camp, on Drakes Hill between Weston Mill Village and Burrington Way industrial Estate, will act as a focus for direct action against the refitting of the submarines in the Devonport dockyards. Activists from throughout Europe will join the camp. There will be unannounced actions throughout the camp and a blockade of the base on Monday 6th October. 
In February of 2002, HMS Vanguard, the first of four Trident nuclear armed submarines arrived in Devonport dockyards for its scheduled refit. Refitting the four submarines will take at least 8 years.
Last November two Trident Ploughshares activists boarded HMS Vanguard and were able to inspect it for some time before ringing the alarm bell to attract the attention of security. Last week two more activists breached security and were arrested inside the base.
Plymouth peace activist Claire Devereux said: 
“Do the people of Plymouth know what is on their doorstep and the horrific dangers posed by this submarine refit? Not only are these weapons illegal instruments of terror, they cannot be kept secure, as was demonstrated last November.”
Trident Ploughshares (TP, est. 1998) challenges the UK’s illegal and immoral possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons. TP activists pledge to dismantle the UK’s nuclear arsenal in a peaceful, non-violent, open and accountable manner. So far in the campaign there have been over 2000 arrests, 300 trials, 1,970 days spent in prison and £59,917 of fines and compensation orders.
PROGRAMME OF EVENTS
Thursday camp setup
Friday familiarisation/tours/leafleting
Saturday leafleting/stalls/events in Plymouth centre10am-1pm/gathering in peace garden 1-2pm
Sunday multi-faith service at HMS Drake 2:30-3pm followed by candlelit vigil
Monday mass blockade at Devonport
	
1st	£200 Fine for Sawing Faslane Fence
1st October 2003 
£200 Fine for Sawing Faslane Fence	

A peace activist who cut the perimeter fence at Faslane naval base in August this year was today fined £200 at Helensburgh District Court. 
Phill Jones (40), Scottish CND’s campaigns worker, was arrested on the 14th August at the nuclear weapons base with four others after he cut a slice in the security fence using a petrol-driven saw. The action was part of the Trident Ploughshares disarmament camp this summer at the Clyde bases, during which 41 people were arrested.
Although she fined him, Justice of the Peace Viv Dance did not impose a compensation order since the prosecution had failed to come up with a proper estimate of the damage. She also instructed the Procurator Fiscal to return the confiscated saw to the company from which it had been hired.
Phill did not deny the facts of the case but told the court that his action was justified because of the horror and illegality of the Trident nuclear weapon system.
A Trident Ploughshares spokesperson said: “Punishing people who take a peaceful and nonviolent stand against nuclear terror is the routine in this court, but it does not deter us. We cannot walk away as if we were not aware that behind that fence is a system devoted to mass murder.”

	

	

	
September
22nd 	Peace Activists Arrested Inside Devonport Dockyard
22nd September 2003 
Peace Activists Arrested Inside Devonport Dockyard	

Early this morning two Trident Ploughshares activists were arrested after scaling a perimeter wall at Devonport naval dockyard, where Trident nuclear weapon submarine HMS Vanguard is undergoing a refit. 
Sue Brackenbury (27), from Faslane Peace Camp in Scotland, and Matt Bury (48), from Taunton, issued a statement before their action in which they said they had “ jointly undertaken to disarm the nuclear weapons submarine HMS Vanguard at present undergoing refit in Devonport Dockyard.” They are currently being held in Charles Cross police station on suspicion of having committed criminal damage.
In her statement Sue said: “Early last year I signed a pledge to prevent a Nuclear crime and this is the reason why I am back here in Plymouth. I was stood on the Hoe when HMS Vanguard went past in February 2001. It was a horrible day and the sorrow has never left me. I just can’t believe we are allowing the re-fit to happen.”
Matt said: “I have undertaken this direct action against Britain’s nuclear weapons as a British citizen who recognises the greater weight of international law over British law. I am also aware that, despite being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968 (NPT), Britain has failed to take any steps towards nuclear disarmament and is working on a new nuclear weapons programme at the Atomic Weapons Establishment, Aldermaston.”
Last November two Trident Ploughshares activists got on board HMS Vanguard and were able to inspect it for some time before ringing the alarm bell themselves to attract the attention of security. Last night’s intrusion comes just 10 days before the Trident Ploughshares Disarmament Camp at Devonport, which begins on the 2nd October and ends with a blockade of the dockyard on Monday 6th October.
Full version of Matt and Sue’s statements follow:
On 27th May 2002 I signed the Trident Ploughshares pledge. This pledge declares that all nuclear weapons are contrary to international law and that everybody has a duty to “carefully, safely and peacefully” disarm these weapons.
In fulfilment of my pledge I have undertaken this direct action against Britain’s nuclear weapons as a British citizen who recognises the greater weight of international law over British law. I am also aware that, despite being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968 (NPT), Britain has failed to take any steps towards nuclear disarmament and is working on a new nuclear weapons programme at the Atomic Weapons Establishment, Aldermaston. Since the signing of the NPT three more states, India, Israel and Pakistan, have been shown to possess nuclear weapons.
This year Britain went to war against Iraq - ostensibly on the issue of the possessing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. The next war to be fought by Britain and its senior partner, the USA, will be against Iran over the issue of nuclear proliferation. The preliminary moves - disquiet by the International Atomic Energy Authority over finding enriched nuclear matter and a belligerent stance by the USA - have already happened. We must all ask ourselves a number of questions:
Why does the Republic of Iran feel it needs nuclear weapons?
Why do we object to this proliferation?
Where does this put Britain’s nuclear programme?
What can we do to prevent other countries from developing nuclear aspirations?
Any serious thought given to these questions will show the double-standards and flawed logic behind Britain’s “nuclear deterrent”. Nuclear weapons do not make the world a safer place. The longer nuclear weapons exist and the more countries that possess them inevitably increase the chances of their use and on a scale that would dwarf the horrendous employment against Japan in 1945.
The USA is developing a new class of “small scale, battlefield,usable” (God help us) nukes. The UK may well be following suit. I cannot stand idly by and permit this lunacy to continue and call on all those who object to nuclear weapons to protest in whatever way they feel best fits their circumstances and abilities.
Matt Bury
This weekend I travelled from Scotland to arrive here in Plymouth. As a full time activist against Trident, early last year I signed a pledge to prevent a Nuclear crime.
So this is the reason why I am back here in Plymouth. I was stood on the Hoe when HMS Vanguard went past in February 2001. It was a horrible day and the sorrow has never left me. I just can’t believe we are allowing the re-fit to happen.
I am also aware on the 8th July 1996, the President of International Court of Justice (which is the highest legal body of the United Nations), Mohammad Bedjaoui, stated, “ the Nuclear Weapon is the ultimate evil, destabilises Humanitarian Law which is the law of the lesser evil.”
I believe that the Trident Nuclear Weapons System is illegal, dangerous, unjust, polluting, a terrible waste of resources, and deeply immoral. I think Trident Possess a threat rather than a defence.
I can’t believe the National Audit Office report estimated costs of the refit of Trident by the end of completion in 2004 at £933 million imagine how much better the health service, more affordable homes. What is the future for our young children? Is it really a safe place to bring a child into?
I personally don’t want to see any more Hiroshimas or Nagasakis.
Sue Brackenbury
	
19th	Illegal Weapons Of Mass Destrunction Found In The UK
19th September 2003 
Illegal Weapons Of Mass Destrunction Found In The UK
Anti-Nuclear Action At Plymouth 2nd-6th October	

In February of 2002, HMS Vanguard, the first of four Trident nuclear armed submarines arrived in Devonport dockyards for its scheduled refit. Refitting the four submarines will take at least 8 years. 
The anti-Trident campaign Trident Ploughshares is planning a five-day international disarmament camp in Plymouth. The camp will act as a focus for direct action against the refitting of the submarines in the Devonport dockyards.
Activists from throughout Europe will join the camp. At a similar camp last November two activists boarded HMS Vanguard and the base was subjected to a mass blockade. There will be unannounced actions throughout the coming camp and a blockade of the base on Monday 6th October.
Plymouth peace activist Claire Devereux said: “How can we justify invading and occupying Iraq just because we thought they had weapons of mass destruction, when the UK and US deploy and are actively developing these very same weapons? The hypocrisy of the British Government is overwhelming.”
Marcus Armstrong said: “The Trident refit poses appalling hazards from radioactive emissions and horrifying danger from an accident or a terrorist attack to every living being within at least a 30 mile radius of Plymouth. And all in the middle of a major and densely populated city, home to over 270,000 citizens.”
Trident Ploughshares (TP, est. 1998) challenges the UK’s illegal and immoral possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons. TP activists pledge to dismantle the UK’s nuclear arsenal in a peaceful, non-violent, open and accountable manner. So far in the campaign there have been over 2000 arrests, 300 trials, 1,970 days spent in prison and £59,917 of fines and compensation orders.
PROGRAMME OF EVENTS
Friday  familiarisation/tours/leafleting
Saturday  leafleting/stalls/events in Plymouth centre10am-1pm/gathering in peace garden 1-2pm
Sunday  multi-faith service at HMS Drake  2:30-3pm followed by candlelit vigil
Monday  mass blockade at Devonport
	
19th	Packed Court Hears Of Another Adjournment In Ulla’s Trial
19th September 2003 
Update
Packed Court Hears Of Another Adjournment In Ulla’s Trial
No Trial Next Week	

All morning small courtroom number three was packed with Ulla’s supporters who expected to hear final debate before the full trial on Monday. Instead they heard of a further adjournment of the trial. 
The Sheriff in Ulla’s case in Kirkcaldy heard Aamer Anwar for the defence put forward a Special Defence which the Prosecution said they needed further time to consider. The Sheriff set a new diet of debate for the 3rd October, with a new trial date provisionally for the 28th October.
Witnesses due to arrive next week for the trial are now being urgently contacted and informed of the changes. Accommodation for supporters will be rearranged for the new trial date.
Ulla was pleased with the turnout in court today and gave a big thank you to those who attended, as well as to all those who had been arranging support for next week.
Many thanks,
The "Keep Ulla Free" campaign.
http://www.free-ulla.org
	
15th	UK Nuclear Weapon Depot Blockaded
15th September 2003 
UK Nuclear Weapon Depot Blockaded	

Anti Trident activists have blockaded the main entrance to the Royal Naval Armaments Depot at Coulport in Scotland, where nuclear warheads are stored and loaded onto Britain’s nuclear weapon submarines. 
At 7.15 this morning three activists, Sue from Faslane Peace Camp, Roz from Edinburgh and Marilyn from Glasgow, locked themselves to each other using steel tubes and lay down in the gateway of the Loch Long base, preventing any traffic getting in or out. The action was timed to coincide with the arrival of hundreds of workers for the morning shift. Currently, traffic is being diverted to a subsidiary gate. The blockaders are still in position.
This the first action in Trident Ploughshares’ Nonstop Nukestop campaign in which the Trident bases on the Clyde, Faslane and Coulport, will be disrupted by direct action all year round.
A spokesperson explained: “The recent announcement that it has cost the MOD around £500k to defend these bases from peaceful protest suggests that they are feeling the pressure. The obvious response is to increase it. The all too real weapons of mass destruction which our government deploys round the clock are there. We cannot ignore them and share in the pretence that this is a normal, lawful enterprise.”
More surprise actions of this kind are planned.
Coulport Blockaders Released
The anti-Trident activists who blockaded the main entrance to the Royal Naval Armaments Depot at Coulport in Scotland for three hours today have now been released from custody.
At 7.15 this morning Sue Brackenbury, from Ayrshire, Roz Bullen from Edinburgh and Marilyn Croser from Glasgow, locked themselves to each other using steel tubes and lay down in the gateway of the Loch Long base, preventing any traffic getting in or out. The action was timed to coincide with the arrival of hundreds of workers for the morning shift and traffic was diverted to a subsidiary gate. The blockade was finally cleared at 10 a.m. The activists were charged with breaching the peace and were released at around 2 p.m.
This the first action in Trident Ploughshares’ Nonstop Nukestop campaign in which the Trident bases on the Clyde, Faslane and Coulport, will be disrupted by direct action all year round. Marilyn Croser said: “We were here today to peacefully protest against weapons of mass destruction. If the UN wants to find WMD it should be looking here at Coulport and Faslane, not in Iraq.”
Meanwhile 73 year-old Barbara Sunderland from Henlow in Bedfordshire appeared this morning at Bedford Magistrates Court, having refused on principle to pay a fine of £190 imposed on her for a 2 minute sit-down at Faslane naval base in August last year. Barbara was prepared for a prison sentence, but the court opted for the more reasonable option of locking her up for the day.
	
15th	Ulla’s Pre-Trial Hearing Continues Friday
15th September 2003 
Update
Ulla’s Pre-Trial Hearing Continues Friday	

URGENT: Supporters Needed for Important Pre-hearing 
Today the Sheriff set another pre-trial diet to discuss witness relevance and the right to a line of defence that the Procurator Fiscal assumed to be relevant. This was despite objections from Ulla’s defence solicitor. The next hearing will now be on Friday the 19th September at 9am in Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.
The PF objected to the relevance of expert witnesses and to the relevance of part of the defence, despite his being unaware of what the witnesses will state. Ulla said, “The PF was making his own presumptions as to my line of defence.”
Supporters in court were also not allowed to take any notes or records of the proceedings. A supporter asked for an explanation as to why these were denied, but an answer was not forthcoming.
All interested in this trial are urged to attend this hearing which is of great public interest, and which is effectively the beginning of Ulla’s trial. Please pass on this message to others that could attend.
Accommodation for supporters is available Friday evening at the Church Hall in Kinghorn. Please bring a sleeping bag. Accommodation is also available as of Saturday lunchtime near Kirkcaldy. Please ring the Free Ulla Campaign on 01592 891786 if requiring accommodation or for further details.
http://www.free-ulla.org
	
10th	Further Hearing Set For Ulla on Monday
10th September 2003 
Update
Further Hearing Set For Ulla on Monday	

At Ulla’s pre-hearing on September 9th, a further hearing was set for Monday 15th.It will be held at 2pm in Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court to decide about witnesses for the trial. 
Ulla’s trial still looks set to go ahead on the 22nd September at Kirkcaldy. Ulla sends many thanks to all those who have sent messages of support, and all are welcome to come along to the trial for as little or as much as you can manage. Accommodation has been arranged, and is available from the afternoon of Saturday 20th and for the next 14 days inclusive, and food will be provided on a donation basis. Please phone the Free Ulla Campaign on 01592 891786 if you require accommodation during the time of the trial, and to check details of trial if you are travelling from a distance.
Ulla is working hard in preparation for the trial, and is approaching it "with a smile and in good faith". In the light of being given yet another pre-hearing date Ulla said "A good sunny day wasted on six hours transport, to a trivial day in court, where absolutely nothing happened that is worth writing about!"
	
8th	Swedish Student Fined For Faslane Blockade
8th September 2003 
Swedish Student Fined For Faslane Blockade	

Today a young student from Sweden was fined for taking part in a blockade of Faslane naval base, home to Britain’s Trident nuclear weapon submarines. 
Tove Ladberg (21), came specially from Stockholm for her trial today in Helensburgh District Court to face a charge of breaching the peace at the mass blockade of Faslane naval base on 22nd April. Defending herself she linked the nuclear arsenal at Faslane to the dropping of the first atom bomb on Hiroshima.
When she summed up her case with a range of quotations on international law Justice of the Peace Viv Dance interjected and said: “This court has had many history lessons. This accused is charged with one offence and we want to hear about that, not the background history, which we are very familiar with.” Tove continued, referring to the duty of citizens, as enshrined in the Nuremberg Principles, to act so that the mistakes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would not be repeated.
Finding her guilty JP Dance said that this had been a “deliberate and calculated act”. Although she told the JP that she was a student on a grant, Tove was fined £150. People on the public benches could not help making comparisons with cases heard earlier in the day when a man who had broken a car window to steal someone’s handbag was fined £80 and another found guilty of doing 60 mph in a 30 mph limit was fined £150.
Trident Ploughshares comment: “ JP Dance was well out of order with her comments during the summing up. She should know that every case is to be heard on its merits and she should know that the reason an accused acted as they did is relevant to the charge. Her lenient response to the other offences that were in one case traumatic for the victim and in the other potentially lethal show how little she has understood the Faslane question, in spite of the many opportunities she has had to do so.”

	

	
	
August
25th 	Fines and Jail for Trident Protesters
25th August 2003 
Fines and Jail for Trident Protesters	

Today, as MSP Tommy Sheridan was sent to prison for an anti-Trident protest, two women activists were given hefty fines for taking part in a highly effective blockade of Faslane naval base. 
On 6th February this year Joy Mitchell (70), from Berwick and Jane Tallents (45), from Helensburgh, along with Morag Balfour and David Mackenzie, blocked the north gate of the base, while a group of others prevented worker traffic getting into the south gate. Cars were tailed back for at least five miles and the gates were shut for an hour.
The case, at Helensburgh District Court on charges of breaching the peace, began with Jane making a special submission that the court, instead of wasting its time on the usual procedure, should sit down round a table and discuss the real issue, nuclear disarmament. The court rejected this attempt to break the impasse that has arisen through the determination of the activists to continue acting against Trident until it is disarmed and it’s inability to date to respond other than by imposing criminal sanctions.
Usually on these occasions the Crown is content to call two police officers to provide corroboration of the basic facts but today senior officers from Strathclyde Police and the MOD gave evidence about the level of disruption that had been caused, the five-mile tailbacks and the long delays for workers entering and leaving the base.
Giving evidence Joy told the court that with Trident the government was setting the worst possible example to our young people. Naming them, Jane told each official in the court in turn that she loved them and did not want them to experience the horrors of a nuclear attack. Giving evidence for the defence David Mackenzie said that when they had sat down at Faslane war with Iraq was imminent, with the added threat that it could involve our nuclear weapons, while Morag Balfour fought off attempts by the Crown to have her testimony blocked and detailed the diseases and birth malformations that are caused by radiation. JP Gillies fined Joy £250 and Jane £290. Both said they would not pay.
Meanwhile at Glasgow District Court Tommy Sheridan was sent to prison for seven days for refusing to pay a fine for taking part in a blockade of Faslane in February 2002.
Jane Tallents said: “The very evidence that the Crown thinks condemns us is what shows how effective we are at obstructing the work of Trident. We were determined today to tell the whole truth about Trident it’s just a pity that the court was not listening. The brilliant Tommy Sheridan continues to give us hope and inspiration. Would there were more MSPs like him!”
Tomorrow Morag Balfour and David Mackenzie are due to be tried for the same blockade.
	
15th	More Direct Action at the Clyde Nuclear Weapon Bases
15th August 2003 
More Direct Action at the Clyde Nuclear Weapon Bases	

Last night two Trident Ploughshares activists got into the nuclear warhead depot at Coulport after cutting through the high security perimeter fence. 
Jane Tallents (45), from Scotland, and Adam Conway (24), from Ireland, cut a hole in the weld-mesh fence with bolt-cutters and then walked on the inside for about half a mile before being arrested. They were charged with malicious mischief. Jane was released after a few hours but Adam was held in custody for a court appearance today, because of a warrant over an unpaid fine incurred for a blockade of Coulport in August 2001. Although he told Justice of the Peace Viv Dance that he had no intention of paying, she gave him more time to do so and, quite bizarrely, instructed the court to investigate whether a Supervised Attendance Order, as an alternative to prison, could be applied to someone resident in the Republic of Ireland!
Also appearing in Helensburgh District Court were activists involved in the incident at Faslane naval base yesterday when a panel of the weld-mesh perimeter fence was cut by a mechanical saw. Naschi Janoschka (27), from Germany, appearing from custody, and Phill Jones (40), from Scotland, pled guilty to a charge of malicious mischief. Naschi told the court that he had acted to expose the presence of atomic weapons at Faslane. Naschi was released and sentence on both was deferred until 8th September to give time for the Ministry of Defence to produce a proper costing for the damage to the fence. The not guilty plea of Sam Jones (17) from Scotland, was accepted by the prosecution.
There have now been 41 arrests at the two-week Trident Ploughshares disarmament camp at Coulport.
	
14th	Five More Arrested at Faslane
14th August 2003 
Five More Arrested at Faslane	

Five more people were arrested this afternoon at Faslane as Trident Ploughshares activists cut the perimeter fence at the nuclear weapons base. 
A panel of the weld-mesh fence was cut by a mechanical saw before the police were able to intervene. Those arrested were Phill Jones (40), Scottish CND’s campaigns worker, Roz Bullen (33), from Edinburgh, Sam Jones (17), from Helensburgh, Sue Brackenbury (27), from Faslane Peace Camp and Naschi Janoschka (27), from Germany. This was Sue’s second arrest in the last fortnight and Naschi’s third.
A spokesperson said:
"Not content with the horror of nuclear weapons, the United State’s development of new weaponry of insane destructive power makes our disarmament action all the more urgent."
Today’s action is part of the two-week Trident Ploughshares disarmament camp going on at Coulport. So far there have been 39 arrests.
	
13th	Anti-Trident Swimmers in Court
13th August 2003 
Anti-Trident Swimmers in Court	

Trident Ploughshares activists who swam into the nuclear weapon bases at Faslane and Coulport on Monday night and early Tuesday morning have been in Helensburgh District Court today. 
Elina Hinkannen (21), appearing from custody, and Juho Vuori (27), both from Finland, were charged with breaching bye-laws after swimming to the Coulport perimeter fence. Both pled not guilty and were given standard bail conditions and a trial date of 14th October.
Linus Larsson (23),from Sweden, and Petter Joelson (23), from Glasgow, appeared from custody, also charged under the bye-laws after swimming close to the boom which protects the high security area at Faslane naval base where Trident nuclear weapons submarines are berthed. Petter pled guilty to the charge. Solicitor Clare Ryan told Justice of the Peace Viv Dance that Petter accepted he had been involved but had acted in protest against nuclear weapons. He was given the maximum fine for the charge - £200. Linus pled not guilty and was given standard bail conditions and will also face trial on the 14th October.
Later Linus and Petter described how they swam across the Gare Loch, evading the police launch which patrols the area before being picked up by officers in an inflatable. They intended to reach a Trident submarine and spray-paint it with peace slogans. They were disappointed that they had not got further but accepted that getting to a submarine without being spotted requires a fair slice of luck.
Their exploit follows that of Marcus Armstrong and Peter Hammarstedt who swam into the high security area early on Monday morning. Marcus, who has swum in before and has reached a submarine, noted that security on the dockside had been increased following the embarrassment of regular and successful intrusions by peace activists. From the activists point of view there is a special bonus from these intrusions which cause the general alarm to be sounded throughout the base, leading to a cessation of normal activities for about 30 minutes.
The actions are part of the Trident Ploughshares disarmament camp at Coulport. which has so far led to 34 arrests
	
12th	International Citizens Inspection Team arrested at Scottish nuclear bases
12th August 2003 
International Citizens Inspection Team arrested at Scottish nuclear bases	

Four Trident Ploughshares activists were arrested this morning carrying out a "citizens weapon inspection" of two nuclear bases on the Clyde. 
Petter Joelson, a peace worker, and Linus Larsson, a web designer, both of whom are 23 and from Sweden, were arrested attempting to gain access to Faslane Naval base by swimming across the Gare Loch. They intended to spray the words "Blix, they’re here" on the hull of the nuclear armed Trident submarine, referring to the inability of the UNMOVIC weapons inspection team (led by fellow Swede Hans Blix) to find evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In a separate action Juho Vuori and Elina Hinkkanen, from Finland, were arrested at the perimeter fence of Coulport nuclear weapons depot, near Faslane. The actions formed part of a two-week international disarmament camp organised by Trident Ploughshares. Three of the activists will be held in police custody until a court appearance on Wednesday.
Trident Ploughshares spokesperson, David Heller, explained, "The British government was willing to wage a highly destructive war against Iraq, based on fabricated evidence of the presence of weapons of mass destruction. Yet, it still maintains its own arsenal of illegal nuclear weapons on board the Trident nuclear submarines based at Faslane. Today’s action highlights the immorality, illegality, and sheer hypocrisy of this position."
These citizens inspections follow a breach of security at Faslane on Sunday night when two activists successfully swam into the high security Trident area at the base. The two are due to appear in court today in Dumbarton. There have been 34 arrests so far at the disarmament camp, which has been attended by anti-nuclear activists from Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Germany, Ireland and the United States, as well as from across Britain.
	
12th	Ulla Roder Trial Now Set for 22nd September
12th August 2003 
Ulla Roder Trial Now Set for 22nd September	

The trial of Ulla Roder has now been set to begin on 22nd September at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court. 
Ulla is facing a charge of criminal damage to a Tornado aircraft in March this year at Leuchars airbase in Scotland. Last Friday she was freed from Cornton Vale prison.
A pre-trial hearing has been set for 9th September.
	
11th	Faslane Security Breached Yet Again
11th August 2003 
Faslane Security Breached Yet Again	

Early this morning two peace activists were picked up from the water by MOD marine patrol officers inside the high security area in Faslane naval base. 
Marcus Armstrong (43), a peace and justice worker from Milton Keynes, and Peter Hammarstedt (18), a student from Sweden, swam across the Gare Loch, evading the constant patrols by security launches and inflatables and got inside the floating boom at the Trident submarine berths before being apprehended. They planned to reach a submarine and spray-paint the hull with peace slogans.
The successful intrusion is the latest in a series of security lapses at the WMD base which is home to the UK’s Trident nuclear weapon submarines. Last August two activists boarded and spray-painted a Trident submarine berthed there and were even able to ring the ship’s bell.
Marcus Armstrong said: "Last week at Faslane we recalled the horrors of Hiroshima, the total devastation, the living skin stripped from the bodies of young children, the long slow torture of radiation poisoning. It is such horrors that these submarines are for."
As we write activists have succeeded in blockading Faslane’s north gate. Four disabled protesters (three of them in wheelchairs) are locked-on to each other.
The actions are part of the Trident Ploughshares two-week disarmament camp at Coulport. So far there have been 30 arrests.
	
11th	North Gate Roadway Occupied For A Day
11th August 2003 
Coulport Camp Update
North Gate Roadway Occupied For A Day	

A mini ‘camp’ at Faslane North Gate was set up for a day by four disabled protestors today. An occupation of one lane of the roadway into the North Gate caused disruption to traffic entering and leaving the base as they had to pass around protestors lying in the road and a fenced off area put up by the MOD. 
The four arrived at about 10.15 in the morning, initially prepared to ‘lock-on’ if the police tried to remove them. But it was soon realised that the MOD where in no hurry to try and make them leave, so the four remained in the road for seven hours making their protest visible to contractors entering the base and throughout the afternoon workers’ shift change. They were joined by other supporters during the day who held up banners and brought food, drinks, newspapers, cushions and parasols. The four got their legs under the fence safely, to obstruct the roadway further, but were prevented from getting under the fence further by police and concrete blocks being placed around them.
There were no arrests made during the very hot day. It is not known if the MOD left the protestors in the road because many were disabled or if this is a change of tactics. Early in the day Matt stopped a military vehicle leaving by linking on to the front of the van until he was prised off. Later a second van was also stopped from entering the base when Sam climbed onto the roof and stood for a short while waving a flag. The police got the van to reserve with Sam still standing on it.
Those involved felt the day had been very successful. Sue said “My presence at the North gate was making the workers aware of what I was willing to go through to make my feelings felt.”
	
9th	Ulla Roder released
9th August 2003 
Ulla Roder released	

Trident Ploughshares activist, Ulla Roder, was released from prison last night after the Procurator Fiscal was denied an extension on Ulla’s remand period, at Edinburgh High Court. This was due to a legal technicality. 
Ulla Roder has been on remand since 10th March, when she was arrested after disarming a Tornado jet, preventing its use in the war against Iraq.
Free Ulla Campaigner, Joss Garman, explained, "Ulla has been overwhelmed with support whilst in prison. However, Ulla’s case continues, and we look forward to proving her innocence."
The next pre-trial review for Ulla will be on Tuesday 12th at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, near Edinburgh. Her trial is scheduled for 25th August.
	
7th	Peace Activists Blockade Faslane Nuclear Base
7th August 2003 
Peace Activists Blockade Faslane Nuclear Base	

This morning at 7 am, peace activists blockaded the main gate of Faslane nuclear weapons base, near Glasgow. 
Their action is part of the Trident Ploughshares International Disarmament Camp. The activists are currently locked together on the road using lock-on pipes. A spokesperson for Trident Ploughshares, Martin Roche explained, “The aim of the blockade is to prevent staff from working inside the base. This is because the use, and preparations to use, the Trident nuclear warheads stored at the base is illegal under international humanitarian law, as well as being completely immoral.”
To date there have been 21 arrests at the two-week camp.
Last night eight protestors entered the Oil Fuel Depot at Faslane and occupied it for twelve hours. Morag sat in a tree inside the depot until nearly 8am while an MoD dog handler waited for her to climb down. People from the nearby Faslane Peace Camp stayed with her providing support.
Two protestors sat atop a MoD building for over fours hours holding a decorated banner between them reading "Ban the Bomb". Petter, one of those holding the banner said, "We’ve found lots of nukes, and they need disarming now!". Others inside the Oil Fuel Depot spray-painted buildings with peace symbols and words.
	
6th	Hiroshima remembered at Faslane
6th August 2003 
Hiroshima remembered at Faslane	

Today, on the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, peace campaigners took action to shut down Britain’s nuclear weapons base at Faslane. 
This morning at 9.30am, activists from Trident Ploughshares’ International Disarmament Camp, marched from Faslane Peace Camp to the north gate of Faslane Trident base. There they held a die-in to symbolically block the entrance of the base, and remember the thousands of people murdered 58 years ago, and those who are still suffering today from the effects of the bomb.
The main entrance to the base was blocked as a group of activists lay in front of the gate, and others painted red footprints onto the road. Nine people were arrested, mostly for Breach of the Peace, with two arrested for painting onto the road.
A spokesperson for Trident Ploughshares, TJ Hart, explained, "In any nuclear war, the majority of casualties are civilian, as seen in Hiroshima. 150,000 people died then, how many would die with today’s nuclear weapons that are 1000 times more deadly? It is impossible to imagine the scale of death and destruction that Trident would cause."
Today’s action follows the arrests last night of two Finnish Trident Ploughshares activists, who painted, "NO MORE HIROSHIMAS. DISARM" on the perimeter fence running parallel with the road outside Faslane naval base. One of the protestors involved with last night’s action is expected to appear in Helensburgh District Court this afternoon.
	
4th	Peace campaigner awarded for "moral courage"
4th August 2003 
Peace campaigner awarded for "moral courage"	

A Trident Ploughshares activist is to be presented an award by the ’National Ann Frank Exhibition’ for his "moral courage" in campaigning for peace and protection of the environment. 
Joss Garman, 18, was nominated for the award by the Principal of Hereford Sixth Form where he was a student of Politics, Biology, Geography and Environmental Science. Garman, from Dolau near Llandrindod Wells, has been active with Trident Ploughshares for three years in which time he has taken several non-violent direct actions against nuclear weapons and war, and has on occasions been arrested for acting on his beliefs.
As well as being a Trident Ploughshares activist, Garman has been Greenpeace co-ordinator for Herefordshire for the past two years, as well as founding ’Hereford Students Against War’ which was at the fore-front of civil disobedience and protest against the recent war, in the Herefordshire area.
Dr. Jonathon Godfrey, Principal of Hereford Sixth Form College, said, "Joss has played an active part in groups promoting conservation, environmental awareness and peace. Joss’s involvement is founded on a passionate belief in these issues, which leads him to peaceful, non-violent protest. This commitment has recently been recognized by the organizers of the National Ann Frank Exhibition which is touring Britain."
Joss said, " It is quite an honour to be given such an award for challenging Britain’s Weapons of Mass Destruction. The usual response to such non-violent actions is arrest and trial, and therefore it’s refreshing."
	
3rd	Britain’s WMD In The Spotlight
3rd August 2003 
Britain’s WMD In The Spotlight	

The Trident Ploughshares International Disarmament Camp near Glasgow kicked off last night when an activist was arrested painting peace slogans outside RNAD Coulport. 
Faith Kendrick, an artist from London, was arrested after she wrote "Try Paix" and "Don’t Trident" in red paint on concrete blocks near the entrance to the base, which is home to Britain’s nuclear weapons system, Trident.
Other disarmament actions will be going on throughout the two week camp, with direct action at the Faslane Base North Gate from 10am on Wednesday, August 6 to remember the atrocity at Hiroshima in 1945. Monday August 11 will see a noise demonstration at Cornton Vale Prison in solidarity with Ulla Roder, the prisoner for peace who is on remand there for trashing a Tornado jet bound for the Gulf.
Joss Garman, a spokesperson for Trident Ploughshares, explained, "Whilst Iraq is attacked on the grounds that it might possess weapons of mass destruction, with very weak evidence to back up that claim, Britain deploys illegal and immoral nuclear WMD, and repeatedly threatens to use them. This is blatant hypocrisy. Trident should be disarmed immediately."

	

	

	

	
	
July
29th 	Peace Activist Jailed
29th July 2003 
Peace Activist Jailed	

Trident Ploughshares peace activist Sue Brackenbury has been sent to prison for refusing to pay two fines given her for anti-Trident actions. 
At Helensburgh District Court today Sue (26), from Faslane Peace Camp, told Justice of the Peace Nicholson that she had no intention of paying the fines or of abiding by the terms of a Supervised Attendance Order, should he impose it. She was sentenced to two seven-day terms, to run consecutively. She is likely to be released next Monday from Cornton Vale prison.*
This is Sue’s third spell in the prison. Other Trident Ploughshares activists currently in British jails are Ulla Roder, also in Cornton Vale, waiting for trial for disarming a warplane at Leuchars airbase in March and Sylvia Boyes who is in Low Newton prison in Durham for breaching the terms of a conditional discharge.
In the same court today Roz Bullen (31), from Edinburgh, was fined £200 for taking part in a "die-in" at Faslane naval base on Hiroshima Day last August. Roz said: "This is a very heavy fine when you consider how peaceful, solemn and moving an occasion it was."
On Saturday 2nd August campaigners from far and wide will gather for a fourteen-day disarmament camp focused on the Trident warhead depot (RNAD Coulport), and the Faslane naval base (HMNB Clyde), home to Britain’s Trident nuclear weapon submarines. They aim to cause as much disruption as possible to the Trident system and to draw attention to the hypocrisy underlying British failure to dismantle its WMD.
* HMP Cornton Vale, Cornton Road, Stirling FK9 5NU
	
24th	Ulla Roder Trial Now Set for 25th August
24th July 2003 
Court Update
Ulla Roder Trial Now Set for 25th August	

Following a court appearance today peace activist Ulla Roder has been given a new trial date 25th August. Ulla (48), from Odense in Denmark but currently living in Scotland, is on remand in Cornton Vale prison in Stirling for damaging a Tornado jet at Leuchars in March. Today at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court her solicitor, Aamer Anwar, sought an adjournment of her trial and this was not opposed by the Crown. There will also be a first diet on 12th August.	
23rd	Karen Fallon’s Bail Conditions Up For Review
23rd July 2003 
Court Update
Karen Fallon’s Bail Conditions Up For Review	

This Friday TP pledger Karen Fallon is challenging her severe bail conditions in Dublin. Some of the conditions under review in the Circuit Court are that Karen has to stay at a given address and sign at a Garda station every day. 
On 3rd February 2003, as part of ongoing resistance at Shannon Airport, Karen was part of the Pitstop Ploughshares which disarmed a US warplane. Within the month, three of the four companies contracted to ferry US troops and weapons had left Ireland. All the Pitstop Ploughshares are currently out on bail. Their trial has been moved to Dublin and will take place in the October or January sitting of the circuit court.
Update: Pitstop Ploughshares in court... Message from Karen Fallon
We were in Dublin circuit court today to address the severe bail conditions that we are under. We managed to have them reduced somewhat; we have to sign at the Garda station twice weekly now, but we can choose our days to do so. We can change address if we notify the Chief Superintendent of the Gardai within 24 hours of doing so. Nuin and I can be within half a mile of the US Embassy, to attend the embassy, and the British Embassy for me! We have been granted legal aid for two senior counsels for the whole group.
The next hearing will be the third of November 2003 to address the Prosecutions disclosure of evidence which we applied for in regard to the action; and the warplanes purposes at that time and in that place.
Thank you all for your support and friendship!!
Karen
More at the Pitstop Ploughshares website.
Individual letters of support can be sent to Karen at 24 The Spinnaker, Alverno, Castle Ave., Clontarf, Dublin 3, IRELAND. Donations are also much needed for legal, accommodation and travel costs.
	
22nd	Ulla Roder Hearing Continued To Thursday
22nd July 2003 
Ulla Roder Hearing Continued To Thursday	

When peace activist Ulla Roder appeared in Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court today, her preliminary hearing was continued to Thursday (24th July) at 11 a.m. 
Ulla is charged with criminal damage to a Tornado jet at RAF Leuchars on 10th March. Though no decisions were made today it now looks increasingly unlikely that her trial will begin on 28th July.
Last night there had been a candlelit vigil from 10 p.m. to midnight outside Cornton Vale prison in Stirling where Ulla remains a guest. The theme of the vigil was solidarity with Ulla and affirming that she acted in our name. The ’In Our Name’ petition can be signed on the free ulla website.
	
17th	Peace activist gets 1 day sentence for unpaid fines
17th July 2003 
Peace activist gets 1 day sentence for unpaid fines	

Green Party activist Lyn Bliss was given a one day sentence at Luton Magistrates Court on Wednesday for unpaid fines of £280. The fines were imposed a result of her protesting about Trident nuclear submarines at Faslane in Scotland. 
Lyn is a member of the campaigning group Trident Ploughshares which was established in 1998, to challenge the UK’s illegal and immoral possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons. Trident Ploughshares activists pledge to dismantle the UK’s nuclear arsenal in a peaceful, non-violent, open and accountable manner. At May 2003 in the campaign there had been over 2,000 arrests, over 400 trials, over 1,800 days spent in prison and over £60,000 of fines and compensation orders.
Lyn said "I would rather go to prison than pay the fines. To pay them would be admitting I was guilty and I have committed no crime. There is no way that Trident can be used discriminately. Their use would result in the loss of thousands of innocent lives which therefore makes them illegal. A one day sentence makes more sense than sending me to jail for 14 days, would be a ridiculous waste of tax payers money."
	
7th	York Crown Court Sentences Peace Protestor to Three Months
7th July 2003 
York Crown Court Sentences Peace Protestor to Three Months	

Last Thursday 3 July 2003, Trident Ploughshares pledger Sylvia Boyes, 59, from Keighley in Yorkshire was sent to prison for 3 months for carrying out disarmament actions whilst under a 2 year conditional discharge (also given at York Crown Court) for "going equipped" during a previous Trident Ploughshares action. 
In a previous statement Sylvia said: "I continue to believe that this country and all the nuclear weapon states are breaking the law and international treaties by ongoing deployment of their nuclear weapons and Trident in particular. We will continue to campaign by non-violent direct and indirect action."
The original offence leading to the conditional discharge was "going equipped" and breaking into Fylingdales Ballistic Missile Early Warning Station in Yorkshire on the 28/3/02. The case was heard at York Crown Court in November 2002 and led to £1,200 in costs against Sylvia.
Sylia was subsequently sent back to York Crown Court by Scarborough Magistrates Court on the 3/6/03 after being found guilty of criminal damage - cutting the fence to get into Fylingdales during March 2003 and breaking her conditional discharge. Then Sylvia was also sent back to York Crown Court again from Harrogate Magistrates Court on the 1/7/03 for criminal damage at Menwith Hill on 1/2/03 where she was found guilty and fined £550. She was due back at York Crown Court on 29/7/03 for breaking conditional discharge.
Trident Ploughshares was established in 1998, to challenge the UK’s illegal and immoral possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons. Trident Ploughshares activists pledge to dismantle the UK’s nuclear arsenal in a peaceful, non-violent, open and accountable manner. At May 2003 in the campaign there had been over 2,000 arrests, over 400 trials, over 1,800 days spent in prison and over £60,000 of fines and compensation orders.
Sylvia is at:
HMP Low Newton
Brasside
Durham, DH1 5SD
	
1st	War On Trial in Harrogate
1st July 2003 
War On Trial in Harrogate	

Three Trident Ploughshares peace campaigners were in Harrogate Magistrates Court facing charges of Criminal Damage after they damaged the fence at Menwith Hill US Spy Base in Yorkshire on 1st February in a direct action against the then proposed war in Iraq. 
Student activist, Joss Garman, and renowned activists Sylvia Boyes and Olivia Agate all pled not guilty to the charge on the grounds that they were acting to prevent a greater crime. The court withdrew the charge against Joss Garman, ’binding him over’ to ’keep the peace’ for twelve months. Boyes and Agate however, were both found guilty and ordered to pay £550 each.
In a passionate speech to the court, Boyes explained what was in her mind on the evening the three attempted to enter the base - describing what she saw in 1991 when she went to Iraq during the first Gulf War as part of a ’peace team.’
Delivering evidence, Agate explained that having been a nurse for many years, she spent her time trying to save lives and decrease suffering and she found it an obscenity that the US/UK were going to commit mass genocide.
Garman said, "Everything that we expected to happen in Iraq as a consequence of the war has occurred. Over 7000 innocent people have been murdered, the Middle East has been further destabilized, and yet there is no sign of Saddam or any weapons of mass destruction. The Iraqi people effectively are left to fend for themselves as the US busies itself securing the oil."

	

	
	
June
24th 	Ulla Roder Faces Legal Hurdles Before Trial Even Begins
24th June 2003 
Ulla Roder Faces Legal Hurdles Before Trial Even Begins	

The trial of Ulla Roder for damaging a Tornado jet at Leuchars airbase in March, is now scheduled to be heard sometime during the two weeks beginning 28th July, following another hearing on 22nd July to check whether she is prepared for trial, given the barriers she is facing in getting legal representation. 
Ulla (48), from Odense in Denmark but currently living in Scotland, is being held on remand at Cornton Vale prison in Stirling. When she appeared at a preliminary hearing today in Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court she asked for the original trial date of 30th June to be adjourned to give her more time to work upon her defence.
Her advocate, John McLaughlin, told Ulla that he had been advised by the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates that he could not put forward the defence she wanted to be presented to the jury. She will now investigate whether there is any way she can be represented at her trial, which she feels is a basic right for any accused who is untrained in the law.
The basic legal point at issue appears to be that the Lord Advocate’s Reference 2000(1) is interpreted by the Scottish legal establishment as ruling out any justification for damage to property, for whatever reason, including an attempt to prevent the killing of innocent people.
Trident Ploughshares comment:
"Are we to understand that if someone was aware of people boarding a plane with the intention of crashing it into the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, and that person damaged the plane to prevent it taking off, they would then not be able to use these circumstances as a defence in court? If this is the case the Scottish legal establishment has lost touch with basic humanity. We believe that a jury would be able to judge if Ulla’s actions were justified and are appalled that the High Court is preventing her from having a counsel to put her case forward."
	
23rd	Fines for activists who spray-painted Trident submarine
23rd June 2003 
Fines for activists who spray-painted Trident submarine	

Two peace activists were today each fined £250 for spray-painting a British nuclear weapon submarine last year. 
Gillian Sloan (40), from Edinburgh, and Dave Rolstone (56), from Wales, were arrested last August after spray-painting the word "Vile" and the CND symbol on HMS Vigilant in its high security berth at Faslane naval base. Today, at Dumbarton, Sheriff Pettigrew fined them £50 for breaching the military by-laws and £200 for the alleged malicious mischief.
In a night time operation Dave and Gillian swam into the brightly-lit base, evading the scrutiny of patrol boats and armed shore-based guards in what was described at the time in a Scotsman editorial as the biggest breach of security since the attack on the World Trade Centre in September 2001.
Both registered disappointment that a Sheriff who had allowed them to present a defence based on international humanitarian law and took time to consider their case in the end came down with a conventional judgement.
Dave said: "Again the Scottish legal system has failed lamentably to recognise the simplest principle of international humanitarian law - that it is wrong to plan the murder of innocent civilians. The Sheriff said that there was no rule in customary international law that justified damaging property. So, in his view, someone who disabled a truck providing poison gas to be used on Halabja in Iraq in 1988 and thus attempted to prevent that massacre, would not have been justified in doing so under international law. That is utter nonsense."
There was crumb of comfort. The wetsuits, paint and other equipment Dave and Gillian used last August were not confiscated by the court and so will be available for future actions.
Meanwhile at Helensburgh District Court Jim Kinnaird, a 48 year-old community worker from Bristol, was fined £60 for taking part in a blockade of Faslane in February last year.
	
20th	Scottish High Court Quashes Peace Activist’s Supervised Attendance Order
20th June 2003 
Scottish High Court Quashes Peace Activist’s Supervised Attendance Order	

Today the High Court in Edinburgh quashed a Supervised Attendance Order (SAO)* that had been imposed on peace activist Ulla Roder by a lower court after she had refused to pay a fine incurred for a protest action. 
Ulla had made it clear to the Sheriff in Lanark that her refusal to pay the fine was part of her protest and although she would also have told the Sheriff that she would not comply with a SAO her views were not sought. The Sheriff was under the mistaken impression that Lanark was certified for SAOs and that she had no discretion in the matter but was obliged to issue the Order. Appearing for Ulla, solicitor-advocate John Scott argued that the Sheriff would have pursued further lines of enquiry if she had been aware that she had discretion. If the point of a SAO is to keep people out of prison then to impose one which the offender has already said she will breach contradicts this intention, since it would lead to a longer term of imprisonment.
In recognizing Ulla’s willingness to submit to jail Lord Marnock said that sometimes principles are more important than expediency. Their Lordships quashed the SAO then continued the hearing for six months as they did not want to impose a custodial sentence while Ulla was already on remand for a different matter.
Trident Ploughshares comment: "If judges are fully aware that someone will breach a SAO then we have to question the motive behind imposing it, since it will lead to a longer prison term. Is it an underhand way of giving us a heavier punishment since the fines themselves and the jail sentences have not deterred us?"
Ulla (48), from Odense in Denmark, appears next Tuesday in Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court for a preliminary hearing on a charge of malicious damage to a Tornado jet at Leuchars airbase in March.
*A Supervised Attendance Order is an Order of a Scottish Criminal Court whereby the person is required to attend a designated place and undertake specified activity for between 10 to 100 hours maximum. It is open to significant variation in interpretation by the local authorities, to whom the oversight of the Orders is delegated, but is generally held to include constructive activities and supervised activities aimed at personal development and rehabilitation. The hours imposed relate to the level of the fine which has not been paid. If the Order is breached a much heavier prison sentence than would have been given for the failure to pay the fine may then be imposed. Under a pilot certain courts due are certified in relation to SAOs and in these courts the judge will have no option but to impose such an Order if an offender defaults on a fine.
	
18th	"Depleted uranium use has lowered nuclear threshold" claims Faslane Accused
18th June 2003 
"Depleted uranium use has lowered nuclear threshold" claims Faslane Accused	

During her trial today at Helensburgh District Court for taking part in a blockade at Faslane peace campaigner Pat Sanchez warned that the use of depleted uranium in recent conflicts has broken the fifty year old taboo against the use of weapons which spread deadly radioactive materials, and so has made the use of nuclear weapons much more likely. 
The Manchester pensioner was charged with a breach of the peace at the blockade of the Trident base on 6th August, Hiroshima Day, last year. She freely admitted taking part but said her action was justified. Each Trident warhead was eight times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb.
The protest that day had also focused on Iraq which had suffered twelve years of slow genocide through the UN sanctions and had recently been threatened with Trident by Geoff Hoon. Further, we might have expected that the wholesale broadcasting of radioactive materials through DU ordinance in the Gulf War and elsewhere, with their terrible effects in cancer and infant deformations, should have resulted in an outcry among the general public. Pat was horrified that this had not happened and that we had been softened up to accept the development of "low-yield" nuclear weapons and the use of nuclear weapons on the battlefield.
Pat went on to explain how Trident breached the principles of international law as spelled out in the Hague conventions. It could not distinguish between civilians and the military, its radioactive toxins could not be limited to one target area and it posed a long-term threat to the environment. International law, as enshrined in the Nuremberg Principles, recognised that everyone had a duty to take action against genocide, including the planning of genocide. The protest on that day had alarmed no-one, it was entirely peaceful, there were flowers and singing. The Trident Ploughshares campaign had strict nonviolence guidelines to cover such events.
Justice of the Peace Fraser Gillies fined her £175. Earlier Ivor Birnie (46), from Edinburgh, charged with taking part in a blockade of Faslane on the previous day, also argued that no-one had been placed in a state of distress or alarm by his action. He was fined £180.
	
18th	Pitstop Ploughshares: Trial Date and Location Changed
18th June 2003 
Update
Pitstop Ploughshares: Trial Date and Location Changed	

On Tuesday June 17th., in Limerick Circuit Court, Judge Carroll Moran heard submissions from the "Pit Stop Ploughshares Community" legal team - solicitor Joe Noonan, Junior Barrister Giollíosa Ólideadha & Senior Barrister Michael O’Higgins.
The submissions related to further discovery of police evidence, the alleviation of bail conditions (daily signing on, banned from County Clare & a mile radius of the U.S. Embassy in Dublin) imposed on the defendants - Deirdre Clancy, Nuin Dunlop, Karen Fallon, Damien Moran & Ciaron O’Reilly and a change of venue for the trial.
The Pit Stop Ploughshares defendants have been charged with two counts of criminal damage to a hangar window (approx €200) at Shannon Airport and a U.S. Navy war plane (Govt. sources approx. €2.5 million). These charges arise out of the Pit Stop Ploughshares nonviolent disarmament of a U.S. Navy war plane at Shannon Airport on February 3rd. 2002. The Pit Stop Plougshares face a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment if convicted of the charges. 50,000 U.S. troops & munitions passed through Shannon Airport en route to the war on Iraq.
The Prosecution admitted to further discovery. The Prosecution opposed a change of venue from County Clare. The afternoon was spent in legal argument concerning issues of a "fair trial", "perceived bias" in calling a jury from County Clare where Shannon Airport is such an integral part of the economy and the United States is such a significant customer. The defense barrister quoted a series of prejudicial statements in relation to the defendants from a variety of local and national media & local and national politicians. It was argued that these statements have made a most significant impact in a community with the said strong economic ties to Shannon Airport. The Defense Barrister observing "perhaps the people of Clare might be more inclined to know which side their bread was buttered on".
Following two hours of defense argument and prosecution rebuttal, Judge Carrol retired to make a decision. He rejected defense arguments in relation to a Clare jury being pressured by economic ties to the United States fearing possible economic consequences of an acquittal.
The Judge acknowledged that his duty was to guarantee that the accused had a fair trial and not to consider the evidence of the case at this time. He stated that the perception that the accused would receive a fair trial was important. He conceded to the defense application for a change of venue to Dublin. A trial date is to be set by the Dublin Circuit Court, most likely for October or January sittings.
Ciaron O’Reilly from the Pit Stop Ploughshares stated,
"We look forward to carying the spirit of nonviolent disarmament into court and putting the issues surrounding our act of conscience at Shannon Airport before the consciences of a jury.
The continued use of Shannon Airport as a pit stop for the U.S. war machine remains a serious moral issue for the people of County Clare and Ireland. Our broader community will return to Shannon Airport on Saturday June 21st. 12 noon. As the five defendants -who remain banned from County Clare- hold a peace vigil on the Limerick border, others will gather at the airport to construct a shrine and remember the war dead. The gathering will be addressed by Nuria Nastafa, a member of the Iraqi Community in Ireland, who will travel to Iraq with an aid convoy. Andrea Needham, initially jailed and subsequently acquitted as consequence of the 1996 "Seeds of Hope Ploughshares" disarmament of a British Aerospace Hawk Fighter, will also speak. Ed Horgan from Limerick & a former commandant in Irish Defense Forces will also address the gathering.
A peace walk will then begin meeting the defendants on the Limerick border. We will have a "Celebration of Hope" in Limerick on Saturday night, celebrating the disarmament and ongoing nonviolent resistance to the war & occupation of Iraq.
We carried out this act of disarmament of the U.S. war machine around the Feast of St. Brigid. We were originally set for trial in Kilrush Court, County Clare, on the Feast of John the Baptist - June 24th. We will resume the peace walk at Brigids Well in Kildare on Monday morning, June 23rd. 9 a.m. in and continue to Dáil Eireann arriving on Tuesday evening June 24th. - the Feast of John the Baptist. We will conduct a fast for peace through Tuesday night at the Dáil.
"The axe is already laid to the roots of the trees; any tree that does not produce good fruits will be cut down and thrown into the fire" - John the Baptist, Matthew 3:10
There will be vigils challenging the role of Shannon Airport and Irish complicity in the continued war on and occupation of Iraq on this feast day at - Irish Embassy London, Irish Embassy Washington DC, Irish Consul New York City, Los Angeles Federal Building, Philadelphia Federal Building, Houston Federal Building, Brisbane, Perth, Irish Embassy Sweden, Irish Embassy Netherlands, Irish Embassy Austria, USAF Base Harewood Christchurch, Irish Embassy Wellington, Irish Consul Auckland, Dili East Timor, Archbishop Romeros tomb El Salvador, Irish Embassy Slovakia, Belfast City Hall and elsewhere".
www.ploughsharesireland.org
The Manchester pensioner was charged with a breach of the peace at the blockade of the Trident base on 6th August, Hiroshima Day, last year. She freely admitted taking part but said her action was justified. Each Trident warhead was eight times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb.
The protest that day had also focused on Iraq which had suffered twelve years of slow genocide through the UN sanctions and had recently been threatened with Trident by Geoff Hoon. Further, we might have expected that the wholesale broadcasting of radioactive materials through DU ordinance in the Gulf War and elsewhere, with their terrible effects in cancer and infant deformations, should have resulted in an outcry among the general public. Pat was horrified that this had not happened and that we had been softened up to accept the development of "low-yield" nuclear weapons and the use of nuclear weapons on the battlefield.
Pat went on to explain how Trident breached the principles of international law as spelled out in the Hague conventions. It could not distinguish between civilians and the military, its radioactive toxins could not be limited to one target area and it posed a long-term threat to the environment. International law, as enshrined in the Nuremberg Principles, recognised that everyone had a duty to take action against genocide, including the planning of genocide. The protest on that day had alarmed no-one, it was entirely peaceful, there were flowers and singing. The Trident Ploughshares campaign had strict nonviolence guidelines to cover such events.
Justice of the Peace Fraser Gillies fined her £175. Earlier Ivor Birnie (46), from Edinburgh, charged with taking part in a blockade of Faslane on the previous day, also argued that no-one had been placed in a state of distress or alarm by his action. He was fined £180.
	
17th	Ulla Roder Trial to be Adjourned
17th June 2003 
Ulla Roder Trial to be Adjourned	

The trial of Ulla Roder for damaging a Tornado jet at Leuchars airbase in March, which was due to begin on 30th June, has been adjourned, possibly until late July. 
Ulla (48), from Odense in Denmark but currently living in Scotland, is being held on remand at Cornton Vale prison in Stirling. When she appeared at a plea hearing today in Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court a defense submission to adjourn the trial was accepted by Sheriff Liddell. The plea hearing was continued until 24th June in the same court, when a new date for the trial will be set.
Supporters from across Scotland gathered outside the courtroom and gave Ulla a resounding send-off as she left the court in a police vehicle. A spokesperson said: "Lots and lots of people have signed the petition of support for Ulla. They applaud her for disabling a plane that was about to be involved in killing innocent people. She did it in our name."
	
10th	Rosie Kane Undeterred by Faslane Fine
10th June 2003 
Rosie Kane Undeterred by Faslane Fine	

After being fined today for taking part in a blockade of Faslane naval base, MSP Rosie Kane has reaffirmed her determination to continue to take part in protests against Britain’s WMD. 
At her trial in Helensburgh District Court on a charge of breaching the peace at a mass blockade of the base in October 2001, Rosie told Justice of the Peace Viv Dance that it would be a crime not to protest against Trident. She freely admitted that she had sat in the roadway at the north gate of the base to stop workers going in but she had not breached the peace or committed any crime.
After the guilty verdict Rosie said she would not pay a fine. JP Dance fined her £150 and told her that if she had not paid up in 28 days the penalty would be automatically varied to a Supervised Attendance Order (SAO) of 20 hours. After the trial Rosie said she was pleased at the SAO option giving something to the community was much preferable to the wastefulness of prison. She added: "There is all this talk about Saddam Hussein hiding his weapons of mass destruction but the idea of anyone being able to conceal the Faslane and Coulport bases is laughable." The verdict and sentence had not affected her commitment to protesting against Trident.
Also in court today were Brian Quail from Glasgow and Eric Wallace from Helensburgh. Both were charged with an alleged breach of the peace at a blockade of Faslane’s north gate last August when campaigners lay in the gateway to symbolise the ongoing suffering of the people of Iraq and the new threat of war. Following a straightforward but moving defence, based on the principle that "we are not allowed to kill innocent people" Brian was found guilty and fined a hefty £250, to be automatically varied to an SAO of 50 hours if he did not pay in 28 days.
Eric explained to the court that he had wanted to draw attention to the suffering in Iraq and the threats against it. He recalled being told by MP George Galloway a month before the blockade that an attack against Iraq would take place. He produced copies of popular newspapers whose coverage of the event showed that his action and that of his fellow blockaders had been effective in bringing the issue to public attention. He had not broken the law he had followed his conscience. He was fined £100 with 28 days to pay, again with an automatic variation to a SAO of 15 hours in the event of non-payment.
	
8th	Anti-Terrorist Powers Used Again By Police Against Known Peaceful Protestors
8th June 2003 
Anti-Terrorist Powers Used Again By Police Against Known Peaceful Protestors	

SPOTLIGHT ON BRITAIN’S WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
TRIDENT PLOUGHSHARES ALDERMASTON INTERNATIONAL DISARMAMENT CAMP
JUNE 6th-9th 2003
Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) near Reading
After the interfaith service this morning at the main gate of AWE Aldermaston, police searched a protestors van near the gate and confiscated various items of cardboard tubing intended for use at a peaceful blockade. The police had promised to have only one van present, but came out in numbers supported by mounted police. They then came to the camp and searched through the campsite, finding only a one foot length of moss covered cardboard tube which they also seized.
Some campers were told by the police that they were carrying out this search under Section 44 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 2000, others were told that the search was being carried out with permission of some campers - so some confusion here.
TP understands that Section 44 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 2000 was used by the police against peaceful protestors at USAF/RAF Fairford and USAF/RAF Welford (which supplies bombs and armaments to Fairford) under pressure from the US military. Under Section 44 searches can be carried out without any reasonable suspicion that the person(s) are involved in terrorist activities. Section 44 orders have to be authorised by David Blunkett the Home Secretary - and TP intends to take this up with him.
This law has been repeatedly criticised by human rights groups including Amnesty International and is once again being used to deny the rights of people to protest peacefully.
Protestors have been walking around the base carrying out inspections during the camp and a number have gone over and under the fence and were ushered out of the base by police. Although no fence cutting has taken place at AWE Aldermaston, some people cut through the fence at Greenham Common without interruption by police. The Women’s Camp blockaded Falcon Gate and part of the main gate with a knitting protest.
	
4th	Skipton Anti-Trident Grandmother Jailed Again
4th June 2003 
Skipton Anti-Trident Grandmother Jailed Again	

Skipton grandmother Olivia Agate has again been sent to prison for refusing to pay financial penalties imposed for taking part in protests against Britain’s nuclear weapons. 
The former health visitor appeared today in Skipton Magistrates Court because she had not paid a compensation order and court costs totalling £270 imposed on her at Newbury Magistrates Court in January 2002 for cutting into the nuclear weapon factory at Aldermaston the previous summer along with Chris Gwyntopher and Debbie Mace. Bailiffs engaged to extract the money failed to do so and the matter was returned to the court.
Olivia maintained her position that she would not pay a penalty that would result in the Ministry of Defence being compensated. She was sentenced to seven days and is likely to be released from HMP New Hall* on Friday.
Last year Olivia was sent to HMP Cornton Vale in Stirling after refusing to pay a fine for taking part in a blockade at Faslane, home to Britain’s Trident nuclear weapon submarines.
A supporter who was in court said: "Olivia was her usual dignified self and conducted herself with aplomb."
* HMP New Hall Dial Wood Flockton Wakefield WF4 4AX
	
3rd	Pitstop Ploughshares in Court 24th June
3rd June 2003 
Pitstop Ploughshares in Court 24th June	

Scottish TP Pledger and Faslane Peace Camp resident Karen Fallon along with another four members of Pitstop Ploughshares are to attend the Circuit Court in Kilrush on the 24th of June. 
On 3rd February 2003, as part of ongoing resistance at Shannon Airport, the Pitstop Ploughshares disarmed a US warplane, painted "Pit stop of death" on the hanger’s roller door, and began the dismantling of the hanger. They also broke up some the runway and built a shrine to the children of Iraq killed by US/UK actions.
The 24th June court hearing may be a pre-trial but it has not been made clear as yet! At some time there will be a jury trial, with members of the jury being made up from the people of County Clare. This is where Shannon airport is located and it dominates the local economy, so the possibility of prejudice seems to be a realistic assumption.
Karen, who has not been allowed back to Scotland, says:
"We are still under very severe bail restrictions at this time and with only three weeks to the trial we need all the help we can get!
A High Court decision was made recently which stated that the people should not be able to take the government to court in regards to it’s international relations and the decisions arising from them!
And also that domestic law overrides international law !(Ed Hourigan vs the Sovereign State of Ireland)
This does not make our legal status very secure but all we can do is try."
More on Trident Ploughshares and the War in Iraq

	

	

	
	
May
29th 	Leuchars Protester Ordered To Pay Compensation
29th May 2003 
Leuchars Protester Ordered To Pay Compensation	

At Cupar Sheriff Court today Trident Ploughshares pledger Petter Joelson was given a compensation order for spray-painting at RAF Leuchars in Fife. 
Petter (23), from Sweden, but currently living in Scotland, painted "No War" and the CND logo on and near the runway of the airbase, home to Tornado aircraft which have been involved in attacks in Iraq. The damage caused to the base was estimated at £1000 and Petter was ordered to pay £400 as his share. No fine was imposed. The Sheriff paid him a left-handed complement when he said that there were people who did not agree with what our country did and made it their work to protest.
Petter pled guilty to the charge so that his confiscated passport would be returned but is adamant that he did no wrong. On the contrary he was completely justified in what he did to call attention to the illegality and immorality of the invasion which took place a month later.
Petter’s co-accused Roz Bullen (31), from Edinburgh, has pled not guilty to the charge of malicious damage and will now face a trial.
Trident Ploughshares comment: "Just as Petter was being punished for daring to oppose the war Tony Blair was telling British troops that they were world heroes for keeping civilian casualties so low. How corrupt has our public life become when it is a praiseworthy thing only to have killed 7000 civilians in an illegal war, and at the same time it is criminally blameworthy to take a stand against such indiscriminate slaughter?"
	
29th	Leuchars Disarmer Faces Trial 30th June
29th May 2003 
Leuchars Disarmer Faces Trial 30th June	

The trial of peace Activist Ulla Roder, charged with causing around £1 Million damage to a Tornado aircraft at RAF Leuchars in Fife in March this year, will begin on 30th June, probably in Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court. 
Ulla (48), from Odense in Denmark, but currently living in Scotland, is on remand in HMP Cornton Vale in Stirling after being arrested at the airbase on March 11th. As a Trident Ploughshares pledger she is committed to carrying out acts of disarmament in an open, nonviolent and accountable way. The Tornado belonged to a squadron which has been involved in attacks on Iraq.
Ulla is well known as one of the Trident Three who were acquitted by a Scottish court after damaging the Trident research barge Maytime in 1999. She has served several prison terms for anti-Trident actions.
A preliminary hearing has been set for 11 a.m. in Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court on 17th June and it is expected that the trial will take place in the same court.
	
29th	£190 Fine For Two-Minute Sit-Down at Faslane
29th May 2003 
£190 Fine For Two-Minute Sit-Down at Faslane	

Yesterday in Helensburgh District Court the local magistrate imposed a fine of £190 on a woman who sat down in the gateway for two minutes during a demonstration last August at Faslane naval base, home to Britain’s nuclear weapon submarines. 
Barbara Sunderland (73), from Henlow in Bedfordshire, took part in the protest at Faslane on 5th August 2002 during the two-week Trident Ploughshares disarmament camp. She had scarcely sat down in the gateway to the base with another woman when she heard an officer say "Arrest these two!"
Explaining why she had taken part in the protest Barbara said that as a Roman Catholic she was obliged to obey the command: "Love God and one another". She was a member of the Adomnan affinity group - named after the 7th Century Scottish monk who had drawn up an early code for the protection of civilians during conflict.
Her training in civil defence had shown her the devastating effects of nuclear weapons dangers of which she was acutely aware since nuclear weapon convoys regularly passed near her home. Following a challenge from the Procurator Fiscal, Justice of the peace Fraser Gillies asked her to restrict her remarks to matters "relevant to the charge". She was also cut short during her summing up when referring to the threats to use Trident in Iraq, issued by British Defence Minister Geoff Hoon.
Trident Ploughshares comment:
"Any unbiased person in the court yesterday would have been hugely impressed by the way Barbara conducted her case. Her defence was to the point and she dealt with the nonsense of the court with considerable dignity and good humour. It’s a sad reflection on this court and this JP that people who were before court yesterday for genuinely abusive, disruptive and threatening behaviour got lesser fines than Barbara, who would not hurt a fly and whose only crime was to take a stand against Britain’s weapons of mass destruction."
	
21st	Spotlight On Britain’s Weapons of Mass Destruction
21st May 2003 
Spotlight On Britain’s Weapons of Mass Destruction
Aldermaston International Disarmament Camp June 6th to 9th	

Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) near Reading 
As US and British forces continue to search Iraq for traces of weapons of mass destruction, June’s TP camp will put the spotlight on the UK’s weapons of mass destruction. No problem here for potential inspectors, the site is clearly marked, and there are helpful road signs to lead even the most baffled inspector to the site. AWE Aldermaston is a key installation in Britain’s nuclear weapons industry. Aldermaston was recently involved in nuclear weapons tests in America and the UK Government wants to carry out more tests in Britain to refine and develop the UK’s next generation of nuclear weapons, costing in excess of £2 billion of taxpayers money over the next ten years.
CAMP DIARY
Thursday 5th - Set-up camp.
Friday 6th - Arrivals. Non-violence training. Set-up women’s camp at Falcon Gate. Accommodation available for non-campers at Coldash.
Saturday 7th - Local familiarisation. Disarmament training.
Sunday 8th, 11:30 - Interfaith service at main gate. 
12:30
- Spotlight on Britain’s weapons of mass destruction. 
Monday 9th - Leafleting in Newbury with members of Reading Peace Group.
Tuesday 10th - Take down camp.
Individual affinity group actions will take place throughout the camp.
Aldermaston provides the warheads for Britains four Trident nuclear submarines normally berthed at Faslane, Scotland. Their deadly arsenal is over a thousand times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb which killed at least 200,000 people in 1945. We invite anyone who is happy to abide by our non-violence guidelines to join us as responsible global citizens in condemning this nuclear madness and celebrating life and hope.
On Sunday 8th from 12:30 we invite others to join us witnessing, watching, putting AWE on the map, pointing, encircling, inspecting, sketching; bringing picnics, binoculars, ladders, music, telescopes, sketch pads, paints and paper, cutters and carpets, stools and deck-chairs.
Trident Ploughshares was established in 1998, to challenge the UK’s illegal and immoral possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons. Trident Ploughshares activists pledge to dismantle the UK’s nuclear arsenal in a peaceful, non-violent, open and accountable manner. So far in the campaign there have been over 2,000 arrests, over 400 trials, over 1,800 days spent in prison and over £60,000 of fines and compensation orders.
Aldermaston info/press line 07904 450307. 
	
20th	Vigilant Trial Verdict on 23rd June
20th May 2003 
Vigilant Trial Verdict on 23rd June
Sheriff Permits Argument on Trident’s Legality	

The Sheriff in Dumbarton judging the case of two peace activists charged with spray-painting a British nuclear weapon submarine last year, will give his verdict on 23rd June. 
Gillian Sloan (40), from Edinburgh, and Dave Rolstone (55), from Wales were arrested last August after spray-painting the word "Vile" and the CND symbol on HMS Vigilant in its high security berth at Faslane naval base. They were charged with breaching the military by-laws and with malicious mischief.
The case was adjourned until yesterday after two full days of trial in March, which ended with both accused making submissions of No Case To Answer, Gillian in respect of the charge of malicious mischief and Dave in respect of all three charges against him. As well as the two charges associated with the submarine incident he was also on trial for an alleged breach of the peace during a blockade of Faslane’s north gate when campaigners lay in the gateway to symbolise the ongoing suffering of the people of Iraq and the new threat of war.
Although he repelled the other submissions Sheriff Pettigrew upheld Dave’s submission in regard to the breach of the peace charge, agreeing that the Crown had not led any evidence that would satisfy the criteria outlined in the Smith v Donnelly judgment.
Presenting legal arguments on the remaining charges Dave argued that his actions had been justified because of the reality and scale of the Trident threat and the fact that UK Defence Minister Geoff Hoon had three times threatened its use in the context of Iraq. Dave backed his case with reference to the UN Charter, the International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion of 1996 and the Lord Advocate’s Reference (LAR) relating to the Trident Three acquittal. Even allowing for the dubious claim made in LAR that international rules regarding weapons only applied during "armed conflict" their disarmament action had been justified because the UK had been, since 1998, engaged in intensive bombing of Iraq. He ended by saying: "On this issue silence is not mere consent, it is complicity." Gillian adopted Dave’s summing up and added that she had had no option but to attempt a disarmament action. Sheriff Pettigrew said he would study all the submissions and documents with care before announcing his verdict.
A Trident Ploughshares spokesperson said: "This is probably the first time after the Lord Advocate’s Reference in 2001 that the accused have been permitted in a Scottish court to present a thorough case against Trident. It was thrilling to be there as Gillian and Dave took full advantage of the opportunity."
	
14th	We Spent £500K Defending WMD Against Peaceful Protest, Say MOD
14th May 2003 
We Spent £500K Defending WMD Against Peaceful Protest, Say MOD	

In a statement issued today, the Trident Ploughshares campaign has responded to the revelation, as reported by the BBC, that last year the costs incurred by the British Ministry of Defence in dealing with protest at the Faslane nuclear weapon base in Scotland were close to £500K. 
The claim is that the cost were incurred in heightening security at the base and making good damage caused by anti-Trident activists.
The Trident Ploughshares statement reads: "First of all, we treat these figures with some scepticism in view of the generally low level of reliability in public statements issued by the MOD. If in fact they do relate to real costs we would point out that £500K represents one sixth of one day’s expenditure on the Trident system. The fact that Britain spends these huge sums on criminal weapons of mass destruction when many of its citizens live in poverty is a damning indictment of this regime. Further, if they have spent these sums on heightened security then it has been largely wasted, given the ease and regularity with which peaceful activists breached so-called "high security" areas in 2002, for example having the leisure to paint a number of peace slogans onto Trident submarine Victorious at Faslane last August and then to ring the ship’s bell.
While it deeply concerns us that our activities again and again expose the casual and complacent way in which these prime terrorist targets are defended from attack, it is Trident itself, with its ongoing and active threat to humanity, which causes us the most distress. We will continue to do what we can to obstruct, disrupt and disarm it. As responsible citizens we have no other choice."

	

	
	
April
24th 	Faslane Security Breached Again
24th April 2003 
Faslane Security Breached Again
Trident Ploughshares Arrests Top 2000	

Hot on the heels of this week’s blockade of Faslane naval base, which saw the arrest of 171 protesters, security at the nuclear weapons base has been breached by two peace activists. 
Noora Jaakola (21), from Finland, and Ceri Gibbons (35) from Aberystyth, were arrested around midnight last night inside the base, a few yards from the inner security fence, after cutting their way through two outer fences. They were charged with malicious damage and released later after giving an undertaking to appear in Helensburgh District Court this Friday.
In a prepared statement, which they gave to the arresting officers, they said: "We have entered HM Base Clyde, Faslane, as a non-violent direct action against the illegal, immoral and indefensible Trident nuclear weapons system. In 1996, the International Court of Justice declared that ’the use or threat of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to international law’. The Nuremberg Principles give every citizen the obligation, and therefore the right, to take action to prevent crimes against humanity. When Britain has been using these very resolutions as a pretext for war, it becomes even more necessary for Britain itself to honour its obligation to get rid of its own weapons of mass destruction."
There have now been over 2000 arrests during Trident Ploughshares actions in a campaign that will be five years old this August. A Trident Ploughshares spokesperson said: "This is an impressive statistic but what is really inspiring is the commitment to peace that it represents, with so many people willing to risk criminal convictions and ready to speak out in court about their absolute intolerance of nuclear insanity."
	
23rd	Blockade Detainees Released
23rd April 2003 
Blockade Detainees Released	

Fourteen people detained overnight after being involved in yesterday’s blockade of the nuclear weapon base at Faslane on the Clyde were released today after appearing in Helensburgh District Court. 
Trial dates for taking part in the blockade were given to Tove Ladberg, Lilith Daverud, Anna Goransson. Malin Cristensson, Emma Malin Larsson, Markus Stoor, Peter Stoor, all from Sweden. Trials were also set for Hanna Nikkanen, Timu Turunen and Matias Luuttanen (all from Finland) for cutting the perimeter fence at the base.
Vappu Luuluvainen, from Finland, pled guilty to breaching the peace at the blockade and was fined £160. Claes Petterson from Sweden pled guilty to four charges (including one dating back to February 2001) and was fined a grand total of £560.
Katri Silvonen pled guilty to cutting the perimeter fence yesterday and was fined £225. She told Justice of the Peace Fraser Gillies "I have pled guilty to the charge since I did in fact cut the fence. However, I believe that the illegality of Trident justifies my actions. If you agree with me that weapons of mass destruction are illegal you should admonish me. If, on the other hand, you think it is alright to threaten people with these weapons, you should fine me."
Angie Zelter from Norfolk was facing outstanding charges relating to February 2000 and February last year, having failed to appear at trials. She apologized to the court for failing to appear, explaining that she had been engaged in human rights intervention in Palestine. The Procurator Fiscal did not argue against her being given bail and two trial dates were set.
The final total at arrest at yesterday’s blockade is 171. Based on a count of registration forms filled in by those attending, the organisers estimate the overall attendance at between 600 and 700.

22nd	Really Big Blockade
22nd April 2003 
The Really Big Blockade
Faslane - Tuesday 22nd April	

Big Blockade website, Photographs, http://www.indymedia.org.uk
Update Wednesday pm: All activists have now been released from police custody. Several activists who are not resident in the UK appeared in court for plea hearings and had trial dates set for later this year.
The total number of arrests for the action is 166, including 7 arrested inside Faslane, after three seperate breaches of security during the afternoon and evening.
Thanks to everyone who made the event such a success!
Update 11:45pm: A second group of activists have been arrested inside the high security nuclear submarine base, bringing the total number of arrests to 166.
It brings to an end a colourful, peaceful and defiant day of action against Britain’s nuclear weapon system.
Press Release 6:00pm: Really Big Blockade
Update 5:25pm: The blockade has now finished, after disrupting the whole working day of the base.
Three activists have been arrested inside the base, close to the Trident nuclear submarine berths. Their action has caused further disruption to the working of the base, as police carry out a thorough search of the base.
There have been over 160 arrests so far for breach of the peace.
The North Gate was closed by activists for over 8 hours, and the smaller South Gate was closed by activists for over 5 hours.
Other entrances to the base remained closed all day.
Update 3:40pm: North Gate blocked for over eight hours. The gate is open, but traffic is still blocked by one group of activists locked together.
So far at least 160 arrests have been made for breach of the peace.
Update 2:30pm: North Gate blocked for seven hours, and still going strong...
So far at least 125 arrests have been made for breach of the peace.
Two Church of Scotland Ministers have been arrested.
Police may have run out of minibuses to take people to the police stations.
The smaller South Gate blockade was removed after 5 hours, with at least 35 arrests.
Update 1:20pm: North Gate blocked for six hours, and still going strong...
The smaller South Gate blockade has been cleared by police, with at least 10 arrests.
So far at least 50 arrests in total.
Photographs: Blockade photographs now online
Update 12:15pm: all gates blocked for five hours, and still going strong.
Over 400 activists present at the blockade, from Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Belgium, France.
So far at least 40 arrests.
Update 11:15am: all gates still blocked
Police bringing in cutting gear to remove activists from lock-ons.
Press Release 10:45am: Really Big Blockade
Update 10:15am: all gates still blocked
South Gate was cleared for a while, but 30 people from the second wave are currently blocking the approach road to the South Gate.
Bruce Kent (former chair of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) has been arrested.
Arrests so far- 19 men and 10 women.
Update 7:30am: all gates to the base have been shut
Activists are currently blocking the main North and South gates, as well as all three of the smaller entrances to the base.
Update 7am: The blockade has started
North Gate and South Gate both blocked by activists.

Visit the http://www.banthebomb.org/rbb
The Glasgow venue for anyone wanting to stay overnight before and after the Big Blockade is now open and is filling up with people. Large numbers of people from Sweden, Finland, Ireland and Belgium are expected over the weekend along with folk from all over the UK - all coming to close down Faslane on Tuesday!
The ’Warehouse’ social centre will sleep 500 people easily and a hardworking team of 15 volunteers have been working all week to tidy up and to set up the communal kitchen, legal and media offices and workshop spaces. There’ll be a party there on Saturday night to welcome people coming from overseas for the Blockade and workshops on Saturday and Sunday.
The Warehouse is at 100 Eastvale Place, at the end of Kelvinhaugh Street. Nearest train stations are either Partick or the Exhibition Centre and there are some signs showing the way to the Warehouse.
MSP’s coming to the blockade include Tommy Sheriden, Lloyd Quinan, Robin Harper, Linda Fabiani, John McAllion, Fiona McLeod and Gil Paterson with a few of them coming to risk arrest by sitting in front of the gates.
The Blockade is being organised in a series of ’waves’ with the first wave timed to arrive at Faslane at 7am. Buses will leave George Square to get to Faslane for each wave and if anyone wants to get a bus out to Faslane they must book a seat as soon as possible so we can hire extra coaches if we need to. Phone the Big Blockade Action
Line on 0845 458 8361 to book a seat.
The bus times are:
  First wave leaving from George Square and from outside the Warehouse at 5.30. This bus will also stop at the Botanic Gardens near the end of Byres Road at about 5.40.
  Second wave (leaving from George Square only) will leave at 9.00 (to arrive at Faslane for 10.30)
  Third wave (leaving from George Square only) will leave at 12.30 (arriving at 2.00)
We’re having to charge a small fee for the bus (£3.00) but you can pay when you get on the bus.
Alternatively you can get a Low Level train out to Helensburgh Central to meet the buses at the Helensburgh Pier carpark at 6.30, 10.00 or 1.30. Or if you phone the action line on 0845 458 8361 we’ll arrange a minibus to come and collect you from the station.
On the Monday before the blockade there will be a series of meetings in the Warehouse for people interested in helping out with support work for the blockade and nonviolent action training. There will be the usual last minute briefing / gathering at 7pm and everyone is encouraged to come along to that to find out what is happening.
The schedule of workshops and meetings on Monday are:
  2pm - Blockade support team meeting (for anyone wanting to help with the Blockade) 
  2pm Nonviolent action training 
  4pm - Peacemakers meeting 
  7pm - The Really Big, Big Blockade Briefing 
  8.30 - Nonviolent action training
There’ll also be plenty of opportunities for people to use the Warehouse to paint banners, make lock-on tubes (we have lots of tubes for people to use) and create props and musical instruments from today - just come along!
For any more details contact the Action line: 0845 458 8361, email big_blockade@hotmail.com or visit Big Blockade Website
See you there
	
22nd	Really Big Blockade
22nd April 2003 
Really Big Blockade	

162 Arrests at Faslane Naval Base 
162 people were arrested today during a blockade of Faslane naval base on the Clyde, home to Britain’s Trident nuclear weapon system.
The protest began at 7 a.m. as an effective blockade of all gates was quickly established. This was in spite of the fact that Strathclyde Police broke a promise made to the organisers of the event, that activists would be allowed to alight from their buses near to the main entrance of the base. Many activists locked themselves together using chain and plastic tubing. Barring one breach of the blockade at the south gate of the base, the protesters were able to deny access to vehicular traffic for nearly five hours and further disruption continued into the afternoon.
Three of Britain’s four Trident submarines are currently based at Faslane. Each of them carries 48 nuclear warheads every one of which is 8 times as powerful as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, which killed 140,000 people and destroyed a city. In the last year UK Defence Minister Geoff Hoon has three times threatened to use Trident against Iraq.
Among the 500 or so present at today’s blockade were Scottish party leaders John Swinney, Robin Harper and Tommy Sheridan. Among those arrested were former CND chair Bruce Kent, two Church of Scotland ministers and a number of school students.
Immediately after the blockade was closed with a ceremony at the main gate, the "bandit" alarm was sounded inside the base after three activists cut their way through the perimeter fence. This will have caused further disruption to the base, as police carried out a thorough security search of the base.
A Really Big Blockade spokesperson said: "This has been a great action with so many people with such a diversity of age, nationality and background willing to put themselves on the line to disrupt these horrifying weapons of mass destruction. The creativity, imagination and peacefulness shown by the demonstrators today is at the opposite pole from what Trident represents."
It is expected that most of those arrested will be released from police stations late this evening or during the night.
Contacts:
media@tridentploughshares.org
www.tridentploughshares.org
www.banthebomb.org/rbb
	
22nd	The Really Big Blockade
22nd April 2003 
Really Big Blockade	

Protesters Shut All Gates at UK Nuke Base
32 Arrests; Police Breach Liaison Agreement
Hundreds of people protesting against Britain’s weapons of mass destruction have this morning closed all vehicular access to Faslane naval base, home of Trident nuclear weapon submarines.
The blockade succeeded in spite of an attempt by the police to foil it by not allowing buses to unload passengers near the base’s north gate. This was in breach of an agreement made at a series of liaison meetings. A Big Blockade spokesperson commented: "We are a bit taken aback by this breach of faith on the part of the police. We liaise with them in good faith and keep our part of any agreements reached. We wonder whether this disappointing turn of events means that they are succumbing to political pressure in the lead-up to the Scottish elections. "
The base’s north gate, the main entrance, is closed by a number of activists lying and sitting in the road, many of them locked on to each other with plastic and metal tubes. To date there have been 32 arrests, including former CND chair Bruce Kent. Among a welter of creative banners and slogans is one in Swedish: "Har Blix vi har hittat dom" (Here Blix, we’ve found them). Among parliamentarians present are SNP leader John Swinney and Green party leader Robin Harper.
Contacts:
media@tridentploughshares.org
www.tridentploughshares.org
www.banthebomb.org/rbb

	
18th	Shannon Ploughshares Activist Released On Bail
18th April 2003 
Shannon Ploughshares Activist Released On Bail	

In the early hours of Monday 3 February 2003, five members of the pacifist Catholic Worker Movement cut their way into Shannon Airport, Ireland. One of them, Karen Fallon, is a Trident Ploughshares campaigner and a resident of Faslane Peace Camp. 
The peace activists poured human blood on the runway that has been servicing U.S. military flights, troop and munitions deployments to U.S. military bases in Kuwait and Qatar. They constructed a shrine on the runway to Iraqi children killed and threatened by U.S./British bombardment and sanctions. The shrine consisted of copies of the Bible and Quran, rosary and Muslim prayer beads, flowers, photographs of Iraqi children and Brigid’s crosses. They then began to take up the runway, working on its edge with a mallet.
The activists approached the hanger housing a US Navy Plane under repair. They painted "Pit stop of death" on the hanger’s roller door, and began the dismantling of the hanger. They then entered the hanger to disarm the repaired US warplane. The plane in question according to Ciaron was the same plane that protester Mary Kelly hit with a hatchet in the recent past. They prayed together.
Having been arrested by Gardai, the ’Shannon 5’ were imprisoned on remand at Limerick Prison and have initiated fasts for peace and called for mass non-violent resistance to the illegal refueling of American Military aircraft at Shannon.
Karen, writing from prison, explained, "The same people who make the law, break the law and lie. They are also the people who believe that locking people up 22 hours a day and allowing them to be treated as "illiterate dregs" of society will rehabilitate them to the "programme". It does not work. The process of my incarceration reaffirms my beliefs and justifies my struggle for a more peaceful world and an end to war."
Karen was the last of the five activists to be released on bail, and was freed on Good Friday. No trial date has yet been set.
For more information:
http://www.ploughsharesireland.org
http://www.catholicworker.org
	
9th	Aldermaston Blockaders Fined
9th April 2003 
Aldermaston Blockaders Fined	

Sylvia Boyes and Paul and Rachael Milling appeared in Newbury today charged with ’Wilful Obstruction of the highway’ during the June Aldermaston camp. 
The prosecution relied heavily on video evidence, which clearly showed Rachael and Sylvia being removed from the slip-road into AWE at the Tadley Gate several times before being arrested, and traffic backing up on the road. It also showed Paul laying down once and the freely flowing traffic behind him on the main road, so he got off.
He also argued that the place is illegal under the anti-terrorism act, but the magistrates disagreed, although they spent an hour thinking about it.
They did say that they accepted that AWE fell within the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, but that para 48 sub para 2 meant that the AWE Act 1991 applied and that as a result AWE was not operating illegally.
Rachael and Sylvia were found guilty, and fined £100 with £80 costs. These fines were automatically transferred to their home courts for collection.
	
2nd	Peace Activist Sentenced to 28 Days
2nd April 2003 
Peace Activist Sentenced to 28 Days	

Today a Justice of the Peace at Cumnock District Court sentenced anti-Trident activist Sue Brackenbury to 28 days in prison for refusing to pay fines or comply with a Supervised Attendance Order. 
Sue (26), from Ayrshire, had refused to pay outstanding fines totaling £250 pounds imposed for taking part in protests against Trident at Faslane and Devonport naval bases and the court had imposed a Supervised Attendance Order (SAO) of 50 hours. The court made the Order although Sue made it clear she would not comply, and it persisted with it in spite of a report from Social Services stating that it was wholly inappropriate.
Sue is likely to serve 14 days of the 28 days sentence. In Cornton Vale she will join fellow Trident Ploughshares member Ulla Roder who is on remand for damaging a Tornado aircraft at Leuchars airbase on the 11th March.
A Trident Ploughshares spokesperson said: "The Justice ought to be ashamed of this pointless and mean-spirited sentence. A Supervised Attendance Order, properly used, can be a socially useful alternative to prison but imposing one on someone who said she would breach it looks like a ploy for increasing the time in jail. By the normal rules applying to unpaid fines the sentence would have been only 14 days, while a longer sentence is allowed for a breach of an SAO."
	
1st	Trident Ploughshares Activists Found Guilty Of Criminal Damage
1st April 2003 
Trident Ploughshares Activists Found Guilty Of Criminal Damage	

At Plymouth Magistrates’ Court today Ray Davies and Margaret Jones were found guilty of Criminal Damage without lawful excuse. 
It was argued, however, that there was lawful excuse with regard to preventing the greater crime of preventing the use of nuclear weapons under the Geneva Convention (which Geoff Hoon had contravened when he stated that Britain would be prepared to use nuclear weapons against Iraq last year).
Also it was argued under the Prevention Of Terrorism Act that, while the Navy may be exempt because they are an arm of the State, DML (Root & Brown subsidiary to Haliburton) are not exempt. They are a private company and no permission has been granted by the Secretary Of State for their part in handling nuclear weapons.
Ray Davies was ordered to pay costs for damage and court costs while Margaret Jones’ sentence was held back pending probation reports.

	

	

	
March
29th 	Peace Campaigner Arrested Inside Fairford Base
29th March 2003 
Peace Campaigner Arrested Inside Fairford Base	

Trident Ploughshares peace campaigner, Joss Garman, 17, was arrested on Wednesday evening, after breaking into USAF Fairford, where America’s B52 bombers are stationed. 
The protester was discovered alongside Sam Grafton, 22, a member of Leamington Stop The War Coalition, near the runway from which the B52s depart to attack Iraq.
The pair who were detained at Stroud Police Station, appeared in Cheltenham Magistrate Court yesterday charged with three alleged offences, where they pled "Not Guilty" and they were bailed not to go within 500m of any military establishment in the UK.
Sam Grafton explained, "Bush and Blair are authorising genocide with the use of indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction. No conventional means of protest have been listened to. We decided to put our bodies where they could not be ignored. This war is illegal and immoral and must be stopped now, for it is a crime against humanity and peace."
Notes:
Cheltenham Magistrates Court have ordered that the press may not use Joss Garman’s name because of his age. They may however use Sam Grafton’s.
The pair have been charged with Criminal Damage, Aggravated Trespass, and going equipped to commit further Criminal Damage.
Mike Schwarz of Bindman and Partners, London is representing Joss Garman. Garman is a student of Politics, Biology and Geography at Hereford Sixth Form College, and is from near Llandrindod Wells. Grafton is a graduate of English Literature from Sheffield University, and is from Leamington Spa.
USAF Fairford is 30 miles west of Oxford.
	
28th	’Vile’ Court Case Update
28th March 2003 
’Vile’ Court Case Update	

Dave Rolstone and Gillian Sloan, who re-named HMS ’Vigilant’ on 9 August 2002 with the more apt name of VILE, appeared in court yesterday and today. After two full days in court, the case continues... 
The court closed today after the crown had completed their evidence. Dave and Gillian have submitted a plea of ’no case to answer’. The crown has failed to provide any clear evidence that Gillian spray painted the submarine. Despite the fact that she was seen doing this, the crown failed to call these witnesses to give evidence.
A series of four photographs were shown in court with the word VILE clearly written in huge letters on the side of HMS ’Vigilant’. However, there was disagreement and vagueness among witnesses as to which side of the submarine the photos showed, or if it was one or both sides of the vessel. There was much confusion over port and starboard, stern and aft (especially from the PF) causing confusion in the court, and irritation from the sheriff.
The case continues on May 19 when the sheriff will announce whether or not there is a case to answer. If not, the case will be thrown out. If so, then Dave and Gillian will be able to present their arguments in defence of their actions.
So far, Dave has been allowed to refer to the ICJ (International Law at the International Court of Justice) and the LAR (Lord Advocates Reference in Edinburgh’s High Court). He has also referred to Smith v Donnelly in defence of his charge of breach of the peace at the die-in (two days before the ‘vile’ action). Sheriff Pettigrew has now been provided with the address of the TP website and intends to visit it! Sheriff Pettigrew presents as a very meticulous man who is fair and apparently non-judgemental.
	
26th	More Fines for Trident Protests
26th March 2003 
More Fines for Trident Protests	

There were more heavy fines today at Helensburgh District Court for acts of peaceful protest against the Trident nuclear weapons system at Faslane naval base. 
Roz Bullen and Mark Leech, both from Edinburgh, faced trial after a protest last June at the fuel depot at the north end of the naval base. A gap had been cut in the perimeter fence and Roz was charged with a breach of the peace for linking her arms round a fence post through a plastic tube. She denied the charge on the grounds that she had obstructed no-one and because her actions did not and were not likely to cause alarm and disturbance. She had been impelled to take action at the base shortly after Geoff Hoon’s first threat to use Trident against Iraq and when the danger of nuclear war between India and Pakistan was very real. She was found guilty by Justice Fraser Gillies and fined £150.
The charges against Mark were that he had gone into a restricted area (the fuel depot) without authority and by an unauthorised entrance (the hole in the fence). Supporters in the court were reduced to giggles as the Procurator Fiscal solemnly asked one of the police witnesses whether this fresh cut gaping hole was an authorised way into the depot. Mark explained that when Roz wrapped herself round the post he had waited to give her support but had been told by police that he too was detained. At this point he nipped through the hole and ran into the depot. He was given a fine of £100 on each of the two counts.
Earlier David Mackenzie from Tillicoultry was fined £180 for his part in a "die-in" at the base last August, when the theme was "Don’t Fire Trident at Iraq". He said: "It was a solemn, peaceful and beautiful occasion. Only by the most bizarre take on reality could what we did be called a breach of the peace." He also told the JP that activists were worried about the bias he showed against them.
	
25th	Devonport Seven Not Guilty
25th March 2003 
Devonport Seven Not Guilty	

Today Plymouth Magistrates acquitted seven women accused of obstructing the highway at the Albert Gate entrance to the Devonport naval dockyard in Plymouth last November, as part of a protest against the UK’s weapons of mass destruction. 
The women, Shirley Law and Helen McFie from Plymouth, Ann Kobayashi from Wickford in Essex, Debbie Mace, Maureen Ukairo and Myra Garrett, all from London, and Lynn Bliss from Luton, took part in a blockade of the naval base during the Trident Ploughshares disarmament camp last year. Devonport has become a focus for the Trident Ploughshares campaign as nuclear weapon submarine HMS Vanguard is being refitted there.
Although the bench rejected the women’s defence that the illegality of the Trident nuclear weapon system provided them with a lawful excuse for their action they found them not guilty on the grounds that the Crown had not established that it was the public highway they had obstructed. While they would have been happier if the court had faced up to the illegality of Trident the women felt that in other respects they had had a sympathetic, patient and fair hearing.
In the meantime the Trident Ploughshares campaign is planning further actions at Devonport.
	
24th	MSP Fined For Faslane Blockade
24th March 2003 
MSP Fined For Faslane Blockade	

Lloyd Quinan will not pay fine and will risk arrest at Really Big Blockade 
MSP Lloyd Quinan, who has been found guilty of a breach of the peace at the blockade of Faslane naval base in February 2001, will not pay the £100 fine and will be willing to risk arrest at the really Big Blockade of the base on 22nd April.
Both police witnesses at the trial today in Helensburgh District Court stated that Lloyd had caused them no alarm. Indeed one officer said that the arrest had been the "most co-operative he had ever made." and the other said that the MSP was "a very nice gentleman." In spite of this Justice of the Peace John Macphail decided that a breach of the peace had taken place.
Six MSPs (Lloyd Quinan, Robin Harper, John McAllion, Tommy Sheridan, Fiona McLeod and Linda Fabiani) have already indicated that they will be at Faslane on 22nd April, just one week before the elections to the Scottish Parliament. There will also be a significant European presence with busloads from Finland, Sweden, Germany and Ireland.
David Mackenzie said: "People are really sickened by Tony Blair’s hypocrisy over weapons of mass destruction. Candidates for the Scottish Parliament should take note that the assault on Iraq and the threat from our appalling nuclear arsenal will be high on the agenda at the May elections."
	
21st	Ulla Roder Faces Months on Remand
21st March 2003 
Ulla Roder Faces Months on Remand	

Peace activist Ulla Roder was further remanded yesterday to Cornton Vale prison on a charge of malicious damage to a Tornado aircraft at RAF Leuchars last week. 
Ulla (48), from Odense in Denmark, but currently living in Scotland, made a brief appearance in closed session before a Sheriff at Cupar after being brought to the court in an unmarked vehicle and led through the kitchen entrance. Since Ulla is in custody the Crown must serve any indictment within 80 days and the trial must follow in 30 days after that. A trial before June is unlikely. We understand that the reason for the closed session where the charge is a very serious one is to protect the privacy of the accused hardly relevant in a case where the accused has from the start taken full responsibility for her actions.
Writing from prison Ulla said:
"People’s disarmament has started. People are not blind or deaf. Nor are we stupid. We don’t buy any more of their lies. It’s going on now there is not a week without worldwide protest, civil resistance and direct action."
Ulla’s own story of her disarmament action follows.
Not Endless DiscussionReal Disarmament Now
I looked at the seat in the cockpit in the streamlined white Tornado warplane, which I had just entered. In my mind I had the picture of a young pilot, boy, son, father; the many years of fear for the people of Iraq; for their survival; for a new world war nuclear war; fear of losing the little bit of freedom we people have left in this world, to a state which has officially declared that it wants "Full Spectrum Dominance" on earth as well as in space and which has shown all willingness and cynicism to use whatever means of power to gain this. All this made me lift the red and black bolt-cutters in my hand. Crash! I shouted out aloud in the hangar. There was no-one to hear, but it helped. "We don’t want your war, Bush and Blair!" This for all the dead civilians in Iraq and all the children still suffering at poor hospitals, caused by 12 years of sanctions against civilians. Crash! The control panel was out of commission.
The echo of the hammering was still in the air when I started on the wings. The hard surface resisted my attempts. This for my disabled friend who cannot afford a decent wheelchair. This for my other disabled friend who daily has to crawl up a stone stairway outside his house, because a proper house with disabled access cannot be provided for him and his family. This for all the marginalised people, the sick and older folks; this for all the people in poverty whose basic needs are not fulfilled; this in hope for the future of our children in the world. I had done enough.
The nose cone got the rest of my anger and all the energy I had. Lies! Disarmament treaties and negotiations thirty years! International law! Ignorance! All lies to buy time for the weapon industries and military to re-arm for the warfare of the 21st Century. Shame! Shame! Shame on all nuclear weapon states. Shame for all the time the courts have ignored the arguments of ordinary people. Now really tired, I slammed the bolt-cutters down on the back of the plane. This for all the arrogance from intelligent, learned people, who have never glanced long enough into the eyes of a young drug addict to understand why they suffer, but coldhearted send them away for shoplifting for their daily needs instead of giving them access to proper treatment because that is too expensive. A fiver a week or you go to prison! Problem solved. Then I returned to the cockpit and silently put the bolt-cutters down. On top I placed a piece of bread and in silence I symbolically shared it with all the hungry breaking off small pieces and spreading it around, praying for peace and justice in the world. I then went down to two fuel containers on the ground looking like two ugly fat bombs . On each was placed the sign: TO THE GULF. I put my last bit of bread on each of the signs. My job was done. No more will anyone face the horrors of war from that plane. One more war machine was disarmed. I felt a deep inner peace.
I now waited for someone to arrive. After a while I was very respectfully and peacefully detained and led away, while the alarm sounded through the whole base. Good! More delay in the preparations for war.
And now I am facing a trial, maybe for £25 million pounds worth of damage more than my entire family will earn in a lifetime by hard and decent work. A Tornado costs £70 million pounds. We paid for this plane and we will pay for all the other planes I saw out there that night, being got ready for an illegal war.
All this world needs is love.
Ulla
Trident Ploughshares
Sand
To all the civil disobedients, the resisters, the disarmers
As sand in the desert
We will always be
We are in the sun, warm and dry
We are soaking, cold at night
We are loved and hated,
But it doesn’t change us
We are black, red, yellow and white
We are at surface alike
We are never the same
But we can rage and gather in piles
We can in wrong environment grow to thorns
We are soft and flexible, moving easily
We can be caught and restrained
But we stay hard, keeping our condition
We are worldwide
We drift in the wind
We can be broken
But more of us will be
We cannot be cultivated
We cannot be controlled
We can, if many enough, stop the war machines,
But we are always staying firm, because
We will always be
As sand in the desert
Ulla Roder
March 2003
	
19th	Lakenheath Protester Jailed
19th March 2003 
Lakenheath Protester Jailed	

Trident Ploughshares activist Angie Zelter is in prison after being arrested with another campaigner as they approached a high security area inside the US Airforce base at Lakenheath in Suffolk. 
Angie (51), from Cromer in Norfolk and Clive Fudge, from Norwich, entered the base and made their way towards the restricted area where nuclear capable US F-15 Strike-Eagle aircraft are parked.
Their friendly wave towards a guard post was reciprocated but when they made to go in to this area, US guards rushed up, brandishing guns and calling out incomprehensible commands. Angie and Clive then sat down on the ground. It was some time before civilian police could be found to take them into custody.
They both appeared in Sudbury Magistrates Court this morning. Clive is charged with aggravated trespass and criminal damage (allegedly for cutting a perimeter fence) and was released on bail. Angie is charged with aggravated trespass. Offered bail if she would undertake not to cut the perimeter fence or enter the base, she argued with the bench and has been remanded to High Point Prison*. Angie told the magistrates that she was outraged that we were attacking Iraq because of weapons of mass destruction while we had a huge arsenal of our own. The same hypocrisy applied to Palestine where the Israelis, themselves unchallenged possessors on WMD, were engaged in appalling breaches of human rights, as she had recently witnessed with her own eyes in her work there with the International Women’s Peace Service.
Clive is to appear in Bury St. Edmonds Magistrates Court next Tuesday (25th March) and Angie will be brought back to Sudbury Magistrates on Wednesday (26th March).
*Angie Zelter HR4725 HMP High Point Stradishall Newmarket Suffolk CB8 9YG
	
14th	Trident Activists Found Guilty Of Criminal Damage
14th March 2003 
Trident Activists Found Guilty Of Criminal Damage
But Judge Praises Their Calmness And Sincerely Held Beliefs	

This morning at 10am, Trident Ploughshares pledgers Petter Joelson (Sweden) and Elisa Silvennoinen (Finland) appeared at Plymouth Magistrates Court to hear the verdict on a charge of criminal damage to the perimeter fence of Devonport naval base caused during a citizens weapons inspection last November. They were both found guilty and given compensation orders of £146 each. They were both conditionally discharged not to commit another offence - 12 months for Petter and 6 months for Elisa, otherwise they will be re-sentenced for this offence. 
After hearing Petter and Elisa’s arguments about international law, the district judge said that Petter and Elisa were calm, peaceful, caused minimal damage and were clearly honest and sincere in their beliefs about the horrors of nuclear weapons and the imminent threat. However, there was not a sufficiently close link between the fence cutting and the threat to Iraq for the charges to be dropped.
Petter said: "I am very disappointed that we were convicted, Trident remains an imminent threat and I will continue campaigning. Once again I can’t see the logic of a situation where Tony Blair is threatening Iraq with nuclear war if they don’t grant access to weapons inspectors, while we were arrested for a peaceful inspection of Britain’s illegal weapons of mass destruction."
In February last year HMS Vanguard, the first of four Trident submarines, arrived in Devonport for its scheduled refit. It is expected that refitting the four submarines will take a total of eight years. This poses appalling hazards from radioactive emissions and horrifying danger from an accident or a terrorist attack to everybody who lives within at least a 30 mile radius of Plymouth, adding to the existing grave risk posed by the 12 nuclear powered submarines already sited at Devonport. And all in the middle of a major and densely populated city.
Trident Ploughshares was established in 1998 to challenge the UK’s illegal and immoral possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons. Trident Ploughshares activists pledge to dismantle the UK’s nuclear arsenal in a peaceful, non-violent, open and accountable manner. As at 22 Jan 2003 there had been 1,803 arrests, 398 trials, 1,711 days spent in prison and £56,490.50 of fines and compensation orders.
	
14th	Thirty B52 Support Vehicles Disabled at RAF Fairford
14th March 2003 
Thirty B52 Support Vehicles Disabled at RAF Fairford	

Last night at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire two Trident Ploughshares activists disabled no less than thirty vehicles which provide essential support to the US B52 bombers stationed there. 
Freelance writer Margaret Jones (53), from Bristol, and Quaker activist Paul Milling (58), from Birmingham, planned to stick labels onto all the vehicles to warn they had been tampered with. They carried with them bags of sugar to contaminate the fuel, grinding paste and treacle to add to the oil systems, spikes to puncture the tyres, and crowbars & hammers to damage the vehicles. They reasoned the bombers would be very closely guarded but guessed the "Achilles Heel" might be the fleet of specialist support vehicles which are used to service, refuel, and load bombs onto the aircraft. The bombers have been recently moved to the Gloucestershire base and in the event of war will be used to "carpet-bomb" Iraq. Last night a group of the aircraft took off from RAF Fairford on an exercise and were refuelled in the air over Northumberland.
In a phone call from Stroud Police Station early this morning Margaret Jones said: "We managed to carry out our planned action very successfully. We evaded the police patrols, cut through the perimeter fence, and got into the garages which were unguarded. We managed to disable some thirty vehicles. With our politicians out of democratic control it is up to ordinary citizens to stop the war machine. I could not bear the thought of these bombers taking off from our country, flying thousands of miles to Iraq, and dropping their cargoes of death on ordinary people. We felt we personally had to do what we could to stop them."
The spectacular disarmament action comes just three days after Trident Ploughshares activist Ulla Roder inflicted severe damage, estimated in millions of pounds, to a Tornado jet at RAF Leuchars in Fife.
	
12th	Ulla Roder Confirms Leuchars Tornado "Out of Action"
12th March 2003 
Ulla Roder Confirms Leuchars Tornado "Out of Action"	

Today Trident Ploughshares activist Ulla Roder confirmed that the Tornado jet which she damaged yesterday at Leuchars airbase is unlikely to fly again. 
Ulla (48), from Odense in Denmark, but currently living in Scotland, described how she went into a hangar at the Fife airbase and discovered the plane completely unguarded. She said: "I took my hammer to the nose-cone, the cockpit, the fuselage, the wings, the tailplane and other parts of the plane which it was safe to damage. I don’t see it flying again. I then sat down and waited for the security people to arrive. When the police came everything was calm and relaxed." She is in good spirits and pleased that this particular aircraft will not be dropping bombs on innocent people in Iraq.
This morning Ulla appeared at private hearing at Cupar Sheriff Court and was remanded to Cornton Vale Prison in Stirling on petition until another hearing takes place next Thursday. Currently the charge against her is one of criminal damage. Until investigations are complete the cost of the damage will not be known but may run to over £1 million.
A Trident Ploughshares spokesperson said: "Ulla’s action gives a huge lift to the anti-war movement and will inspire other peaceful and nonviolent acts to put a spoke in the wheel of the Blair war machine."
Ulla is well known as one of the Trident Three who were acquitted by a Scottish court after damaging the Trident research barge Maytime in 1999. She has served several prison terms for anti-Trident actions.
	
11th	Stop The War! Citizens Of East Anglia Take Direct Action At Lakenheath
11th March 2003 
Stop The War! Citizens Of East Anglia Take Direct Action At Lakenheath	

Nine citizens of the Norfolk and Suffolk area cut their way into the American airbase, "RAF" Lakenheath, at approximately 11 am, to take nonviolent direct action to disrupt preparations for a war against Iraq. 
The citizens range in age from 22 and 40 and come from all walks of life; within the group there is a university lecturer, a Suzuki violin teacher, 3 parents and 2 students
At 11:25 am, Rupert Eris, 39, and Zina Zelter, 29, cut a five foot high and four foot wide hole in the fence on the northwest corner of Lakenheath airbase. The other seven citizens then cycled through the hole in the fence, while Zelter and Eris stayed by the hole, with banners reading "No nukes no war" and "No War for Oil" to take full responsibility for their action. They were arrested at midday and released charged with suspicion to cause criminal damage at 18.00h.
Once inside, the other seven spread out widely on their bicycles. Paul Dolman cycled up and down the main runway, while 6 others locked themselves down or lay down on the old runway and could not be removed for three hours.
The participants in the action entered the base because they believe that Bush and Blair seem set on war despite massive international opposition to such a course. Samantha Maher, one of the cyclists, said, "It is my duty as an international citizen to uphold the law and keep the peace."
Zina Zelter added that Lakenheath has been involved in bombing Iraq since the Gulf War and is already playing an important part in this war, making actions at "RAF" Lakenheath particularly important.
And according to Rupert Eris, "I believe that the massive attack that the U.S. and the U.K. governments are preparing and those parts of that are already happening, such as increased bombing and special forces activity within Iraq, are equally illegal."
The nine citizens decided to carry out the action completely nonviolently, including being fully accountable. They are prepared to be arrested and go to court to defend their action should it be necessary.
More information about the citizens’ arrests and charges, as well as other up to date information, can be obtained from the contact numbers listed. Video footage will also be available later this afternoon (mini dv).
	
10th	Trident Activists Challenge The UK Government On Illegal Use Of Nuclear Weapons As We Prepare For An Unlawful War
10th March 2003 
Trident Activists Challenge The UK Government On Illegal Use Of Nuclear Weapons As We Prepare For An Unlawful War	

This Thursday 13th March 2003 at 10am, Trident Ploughshares pledgers Petter Joelson (Sweden) and Elisa Silvennoinen (Finland) will appear at Plymouth Magistrates Court. They are charged with £250 worth of criminal damage to the perimeter fence of Devonport naval base caused during a citizens weapons inspection last November. They will be represented by Steve Jerome, a local solicitor. 
As a result of Petter and Elisa’s security breach at Devonport, DML have sacked the firm who had the security contract at Devonport and have put in place electronic measures (including CCTV) and additional guards.
Petter said "Trident is a weapon of mass terror, built to kill hundreds of thousands in one single strike. Secretary of State for Defence Geoffrey Hoon, who has threatened to use Trident against Iraq must be taken to court, not Elisa and me. I can’t see the logic of a situation where Tony Blair is threatening Iraq with nuclear war if they don’t grant access to weapons inspectors, while we were arrested for a peaceful inspection of Britain’s illegal weapons of mass destruction."
In February last year HMS Vanguard, the first of four Trident submarines, arrived in Devonport for its scheduled refit. It is expected that refitting the four submarines will take a total of eight years. This poses appalling hazards from radioactive emissions and horrifying danger from an accident or a terrorist attack to everybody who lives within at least a 30 mile radius of Plymouth, adding to the existing grave risk posed by the 12 nuclear powered submarines already sited at Devonport. And all in the middle of a major and densely populated city.
Trident Ploughshares was established in 1998 to challenge the UK’s illegal and immoral possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons. Trident Ploughshares activists pledge to dismantle the UK’s nuclear arsenal in a peaceful, non-violent, open and accountable manner. As of 22nd January this year there had been 1,803 arrests, 398 trials, 1,711 days spent in prison and £56,490.50 of fines and compensation orders.
	
10th	Citizens Inspection Of RAF Leuchars....... Mobilising For Peace
10th March 2003 
Citizens Inspection Of RAF Leuchars....... Mobilising For Peace	

Early on the morning of Monday 10th March, two anti-war activists breached security at RAF Leuchars in order to inspect the base ahead of any illegal use in an attack on Iraq. 
Despite RAF bosses insisting security at the airbase was "very good" and a "top priority" (1), the two TP pledgers were able to enter and inspect the base for over two hours before being discovered, even though one was a wheelchair user.
Petter from Sweden was held overnight in custody, while Roz was bailed to appear the next morning in court. Both were charged with two sets of Malicious Mischief for alleged cutting of five sections of chainlink fence, and for spray painting peace messages on three army trucks and an empty aircraft hanger. They were let out on bail and petitioned to appear again at Cupar Sheriff Court, and on the condition that Petter gave up his passport whilst the level of damages are assessed.
The two were highlighting the hypocrisy that this war is based upon. Our country possesses weapons of mass destruction which are regularly transported up and down our roads from Aldermaston to Coulport. As a supporter stated, "We can hardly lecture anyone on International Law or democracy when this looming war ignores both."
An International Study Team has just completed another major study and found that "Iraqi children are already suffering significant psychological harm from the threat of war". (2) Meanwhile, babies are being born with deformities as a result of weapons tipped with Depleted Uranium which were used in the last Gulf war. It will again be innocent children and families who will be made to pay for an attack on Iraq and this cannot be justified legally or morally.
Other demonstrations and actions have taken place at bases all over Europe. Last Saturday a demonstration at RAF Leuchars saw over 200 people protest at the its involvement in the bombing of Iraq.
Note 1) Daily Record 12/3/03
Note 2) Independent. 12/2/03

6th	Police Inspector Reads Complaint About Britain’s WMD and Thanks Activists
6th March 2003 
Police Inspector Reads Complaint About Britain’s WMD and Thanks Activists	

Yesterday morning four Luton citizens lodged a complaint with Luton police to ask that they urgently investigate a breach of international law. 
Lynn Bliss, Anna Tzani, Eric Prendergast and Marc Schiemann, went to their local police station where desk staff asked them to wait to see the inspector. Local media were present as the inspector met with the four activists, read the complaint in full and thanked them for bringing it to his attention.
Weapons of mass destruction, which would kill millions of civilians, are illegal. The UK threatens to use such a weapon every day of the year - the British Trident nuclear weapons system based at Faslane, in Scotland.
It is hypocritical to demand that other countries don’t have such weapons when we have had them for years. As citizens we have a duty to do all we can to stop the illegal Trident system.
The same day, Lyn Bliss, a Green Party activist and Trident Ploughshares campaigner appeared at Luton Magistrates court at 10am for non-payment of fines, imposed by Helensburgh District court for breach of the peace, for peacefully blockading at Faslane base in February 2002 and 2003. Lynn initially thought that she would get a 14 day sentence for fines amounting to £290 - but the courts said they were going to send in the bailiffs instead. It is ironic that the courts are keen to ensure the law is obeyed when it comes to paying fines but the police will do nothing to stop the possession of Trident which is clearly illegal by International Law.
Lyn Bliss says, "Even if they eventually send me to prison, it will not stop me protesting to try to make this world a safer place for us, our children and our grandchildren. The UN is insisting that Sadam Hussain dismantles his weapons of mass destruction while it is deemed ok for us to keep ours. It is total hypocrisy".
Trident Ploughshares was established in 1998 to challenge the UK’s illegal and immoral possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons. Trident Ploughshares activists pledge to dismantle the UK’s nuclear arsenal in a peaceful, non-violent, open and accountable manner. By 23rd January there had been 1,803 arrests, 398 trials, 1,711 days spent in prison and £56,490.50 of fines and compensation orders.
Campaigners from Luton will also be supporting the Really Big Blockade, a nonviolent sit down at the gates of Faslane on Tuesday April 22nd. The Really Big Blockade is being jointly organised by British CND, Scottish CND and Trident Ploughshares.
For more information http://www.banthebomb.org/rbb, e-mail: Big_Blockade@hotmail.com
RBB action line: 0845 4588361
	
5th	Ash Wednesday Service In Edinburgh
5th March 2003 
Ash Wednesday Service In Edinburgh	

As a sign of repentance for Britain’s reliance on weapons of mass destruction, model Trident submarines were burnt on 5th March at the Adomnan affinity group Ash Wednesday service in Parliament Square, Edinburgh. 
This is a service of repentance for our reliance on Trident and weapons of mass destruction, and our misuse of God’s creation.
At this time the people of the Middle East are facing the threat of war; on this day the Pope has called us to pray for peace; religious leaders and the people are calling for a commitment to finding the ways of peace. This is our public response. In this service people will be invited to be marked with ashes from the burning of a model Trident.
The service is arranged by the Adomnan Affinity Group of Trident Ploughshares along with the Clergy Action Group, and we invite you and friends to join us.

	

	

	

	

	
February
26th 	Peace Activists Arrested After Closing A Factory Refitting Britain’s Weapons Of Mass Destruction
26th February 2003 
Peace Activists Arrested After Closing A Factory Refitting Britain’s Weapons Of Mass Destruction	

Seven Midlands peace campaigners were arrested this morning after successfully closing the Rolls Royce site at Derby for 1 hour. The activists from Trident Ploughshares, the direct action campaign to peacefully disarm the British Trident nuclear weapons system, closed the Raynesway site just before 7am. They locked themselves to the entrance gates with a variety of chains, padlocks and thumb locks, closing the factory just as employees were arriving for work. A traffic jam ensued and some employees were sent away. All 7 were charged with breach of the peace, taken to St Mary’s Wharf police station in Derby and later released without charge. 
The plant produces nuclear fuel components for the Trident submarines, which are powered by nuclear reactors. One of the 4 submarines, HMS Vanguard, is currently in Devonport docks, Plymouth, undergoing a re-fit, and new fuel plates will be transported by road from Derby to Plymouth as part of this process.
The group attached a banner to the gates, proclaiming: "Rolls Royce: the driving force behind Britain’s nuclear weapons", and gave out leaflets to employees arriving at the site, explaining their presence.
A spokesperson said, "By closing the factory, we are delaying the production and transportation of the fuel components which are essential to the powering of the submarines carrying Britain’s nuclear weapons. We are also highlighting the hypocrisy of the Government, which is expounding the dangers of these weapons and at the same time threatening the world with its own weapons of mass destruction." Those arrested were Marlene Yeo and Zina Zelter of Loughborough, Jennifer Pardue of Stone and Nigel Hill of Stafford, Paul Milling and Brenda Burrel of Birmingham, and Sarah Lasenby of Oxford.
Notes for journalists
Trident Ploughshares was established in 1998 to challenge the UK’s illegal and immoral possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons. Trident Ploughshares activists pledge to dismantle the UK’s nuclear arsenal in a peaceful, non-violent, open and accountable manner. As at 22/1/3 there have been 1,803 arrests, 398 trials, 1,711 days spent in prison and £56,490.50 of fines and compensation orders. The UK’s Trident nuclear weapons system is based on 4 submarines each carrying 12 to16 missiles, each of which can deliver a number of 100 kiloton warheads to individual targets - mass destruction on an unimaginable level.
	
25th	Faslane Court Gets Curiouser and Curiouser
25th February 2003 
Faslane Court Gets Curiouser and Curiouser	

Today two members of a Northumbrian group who enacted the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party from Alice in Wonderland at a blockade of Faslane naval base in February last year were given heavy fines in Helensburgh District Court for alleged breaches of the peace. 
The dazzling Harry Lauder tartan jacket worn by Justice of the Peace Fraser Gillies was completely upstaged by the colourful attire of the Mad Hatters who sported a Queen of Hearts in crimson dress with gauze veil and a Hatter complete with a two-foot topper. There was also a large croquet-playing pink flamingo which was barred from the court.
The Queen (aka Roberta Stewart, 44, from Newcastle) was fined £175 for being part of a group locked together at the blockade of the south gate of the base on 12th February 2002. Roberta’s 13 year-old daughter, Analisa, gave evidence on her mother’s behalf, telling the court what the purpose of the blockade was and how happy she had been to be part of it.
The Mad Hatter (aka Lottie Hann 47, also from Newcastle) told the court that the situation was urgent due to the willingness of the US and the UK to indulge in pre-emptive military strikes, including so-called "limited nuclear strikes". They had chosen the Alice in Wonderland theme to give their protest a light-hearted and unthreatening touch. The blockade had been entirely peaceful, well organised and negotiated. Roberta’s other daughter, Danielle, gave evidence on behalf of Lottie, confirming the peaceful nature of the event and its serious purpose. Lottie was fined £180.
	
25th	Whole New Level Of Farce at Faslane Court
25th February 2003 
Whole New Level Of Farce at Faslane Court	

Helensburgh District Court, which deals with most cases arising out of protests at Faslane naval base, yesterday achieved new levels of absurdity, bias and incompetence as a police witness statement was disowned by its alleged author and the case against one protester was dropped by the Procurator Fiscal on the grounds that the individual concerned looked "fairly respectable". 
It all began with the trial of Carolyn Leckie, a midwife from East Kilbride, on a charge of breaching the peace at the blockade of Faslane on February 13th 2002. Carolyn had received papers from the Procurator Fiscal’s office purporting to be the witness statement of the first police witness PC Vickers. When Carolyn quoted from the statement PC Vickers said that he had not written it. Carolyn submitted that there was no case to answer due to this contradiction. Justice of the Peace John Macphail said that the case should continue, since witness statements in themselves had no standing as evidence. The next police witness, PC Craig Martin, did not impress as a reliable witness since he averred that he did not know what the demonstration was about, had not read any of the placards or banners, and did not know the function of the Faslane base.
The Crown case was led by the senior Dumbarton Procurator Fiscal, PF Donnelly, who succeeded in objecting to Carolyn cross-examining police witnesses on the legality of Trident but in his own summing up went so far as to state that "Trident is there to make sure that people can make their views known." JP Macphail found Carolyn guilty and fined her £100.
Next up was Tony Davies, a retired doctor from Edinburgh, charged with breaching the peace at the blockade of the base in October 2001. PF Donnelly, with no explanation, said that the Crown was accepting Tony’s not guilty plea. When the trial was over Tony asked the PF what lay behind this mysterious decision and was told: "I thought you looked fairly respectable". Court watchers thought it more likely that the clock was moving on and the PF had had enough for one day.
Eric Wallace, who was present in court, said: "The JP may have been technically correct to rule the dubious witness statement irrelevant to the evidence but if he had been worth his salt he would have shown strong judicial disapproval at this corrupt practice and announced his intention to raise the matter formally with both the police and the PF’s office. The complacency of this magistrate at shoddy and practice by the Crown and the police is quite incredible. We will not let this matter rest."
	
18th	Aldermaston Compensation Order for Ulla Roder
18th February 2003 
Aldermaston Compensation Order for Ulla Roder	

Peace activist Ulla Roder has been ordered to pay £370 compensation to the Atomic Weapon Establishment at Aldermaston for cutting a small piece of a fence at the site during the Trident Ploughshares disarmament camp there in May 2001. 
The trial, on a charge of criminal damage, took place today in Newbury Magistrates Court. Although represented, Ulla herself undertook to explain to the magistrate that her action was justified under the Nuremberg Principles which obliges citizens to observe humanitarian law.
Ulla (48) a Danish Trident Ploughshares pledger currently living in the UK, said: "Although he avoided any reference to the Principles in his judgment he was listening intently to my argument. I did explain to him that my conscience would not allow me to pay compensation to Aldermaston."
Ulla was also ordered to pay £60 court costs. Her co-accused, Allen O’Keefe, was tried in January and was ordered to pay £750 compensation, double Ulla’s penalty.
The nuclear weapon factory at Aldermaston makes the components for Trident warheads and is set for a massive extension designed to produce the next generation of UK nuclear weapons. There are no reports of any plan for UN weapons inspectors to monitor the site or any sign that the UK, now loudly demanding the disarmament of Iraq, intends even to consider implementing its obligations under the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty which are backed by a series of specific UN resolutions.

17th	UK WMD stopped in its tracks
17th February 2003 
UK WMD stopped in its tracks	

Activists from Trident Ploughshares and Faslane Peace Camp stopped a nuclear convoy for almost three hours on Monday 18th. 3 of the 6 protesters also blocked the main entrance to RNAD Coulport, home to the UK’s nuclear bombs, closing the entire base for a short while. 
The protesters were highlighting the fact that whilst the focus is on Iraqi WMD, people and the press seem to be forgetting the 200 nuclear war heads that the British government illegally and immorally possesses, some of which are illegally carried around the UK on public roads with no warning signs and with no permission from the residents of the settlements through which the convoy passes.
The nuclear convoy was sighted leaving the base just twenty minutes after the protesters who were locked on were removed. It is believed that the convoy was making its way to Aldermaston bomb factory in the south of the UK.
	
12th	Tommy Sheridan Not Deterred by Faslane Fine
12th February 2003 
Tommy Sheridan Not Deterred by Faslane Fine	

Scottish Socialist MSP Tommy Sheridan, after being fined £200 today for being part of a blockade of Faslane, gave notice that he will go to prison rather than pay the fine and will continue to take part in protests at the nuclear weapon submarine base. 
Tommy was on trial before Justice of the peace Viv Dance after being arrested at the blockade of the base on February 11th this year. He told the JP that his intention had been to uphold international law the International Court of Justice in its 1996 ruling had judged nuclear bombs to be illegal since they were indiscriminate weapons. Although he had intended to disrupt the work of the base the disruption had been minimal and was not at a level to warrant arrest.
JP Dance found him guilty on the grounds that there was evidence of "flagrant" behaviour. Tommy said that his behaviour had not been flagrant and that he would not desist from protesting in this way.
In December 2000 Tommy was jailed after refusing to pay a fine for the blockade in February of that year. In October 2001 he was acquitted of a breach of the peace charge relating to the Big Blockade (February 2001). Later a Crown appeal against this acquittal was rejected by the High Court. He was again acquitted in June 2002 for the blockade in October the previous year.
Jane Tallents said: "It’s a great encouragement to us in the struggle against Trident when elected representatives like Tommy stand so firmly with us, to the extent of risking imprisonment repeatedly. We are calling for others to follow his example on April the 22nd at the really Big Blockade of Faslane."
	
11th	Trial Exposes British Nuclear Weapons Programme
11th February 2003 
Trial Exposes British Nuclear Weapons Programme	

On the first day of his trial yesterday, Matthew Holborow exposed the use of military road convoys to carry Trident nuclear warheads through the region. He will today be able to give his own evidence and question the Convoy Commander, a senior Ministry of Defence policeman who has been summoned from the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) Aldermaston to give evidence. 
Matthew Holborow is on trial at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court, after stopping a military convoy travelling between the AWE and the Trident naval bases at Faslane/Coulport in Scotland. The convoy was stopped on the western edge of Newcastle, on 10th February 2002. Matthew is charged with ’obstruction of the highway’, and his trial will finish today when he presents his own defence case.
Yesterday, police confirmed on oath that the convoys were carrying nuclear warheads. Mr Holborow will be arguing today that preparing for the threat or use of 100-kiloton nuclear bombs, each 8 times more powerful than the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, is a war crime, and affords him lawful excuse for his attempt to prevent crime by stopping the convoy. Speaking last night, he said:
"In the last few weeks, politicians from Olga Maitland to Geoff Hoon, secretary of state for defence, have openly threatened to use our nuclear weapons against Iraq. These threats show that the convoys passing Newcastle are not just military exercises, they are an essential part of the government’s preparedness to use weapons of mass destruction on a ’first strike’ basis."
Matthew Holborow will be at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court with anti-nuclear supporters from 10am this morning (Tuesday).
	
10th	Another Faslane Protester Sent to Jail
10th February 2003 
Another Faslane Protester Sent to Jail	

A peace activist was sent to Cornton Vale prison this morning and another two were fined in the ongoing struggle of the local courts to cope with peaceful protests at the Trident Nuclear weapon bases on the Clyde. 
Pamela Smith from Edinburgh was in Helensburgh District Court for failing to pay two fines amounting to £200 for a blockade and for cutting the perimeter fence at Faslane. She told JP Alexander that she had no intention of paying and was given two seven day sentences to run concurrently. It is likely that she will be released on Thursday.
In the same court Barbara Dowling (58), from Glasgow, was on trial for being part of the Blockade of Faslane in October 2001. She described how she had gone to the event and had at first been content to stay on the pavement and not risk arrest. Then she had seen a little old woman sitting down in the road and she wondered whether she should do likewise. "I did what I usually do in such cases," she said "I asked myself what Jesus would have done. Then I realised that Jesus was already sitting in the road and so I joined him." She went on to say that if some people thought it was right to bomb countries that were suspected of having weapons of mass destruction it must be alright for her merely to sit in the roadway outside a base full of such weapons.
It became clear then that Pamela Smith’s jail sentence was having no deterrent effect as Barbara told the JP plainly that she would not pay the £100 fine he imposed.
Lesley Anderson (19), from Muckhart, was fined £100 for taking part in a blockade of Faslane during the Trident Ploughshares disarmament camp last August.
	
6th	Faslane Nuclear Weapons Base Shut Down
6th February 2003 
Faslane Nuclear Weapons Base Shut Down
Activists Target British Weapons of Mass Destruction Establishment	

While the UK Prime Minister Tony Blair remains ready to back the US attack on Iraq, ostensibly to disarm its weapons of mass destruction, early this morning peace activists blocked vehicular entrances to Faslane, the base for Britain’s Trident nuclear weapon submarines, shutting down the base for over one hour. 
The blockade began at 6:50am this morning as a group of Trident Ploughshares activists sat down in the roadways at the north, south and fuel depot gates to the base. Traffic was seen to tail back for over three miles in one direction towards Rhu Point. At the time of writing only the North gate has been re-opened. Some of the activists were joined to each other with plastic tubes while others simply sat down in the road. The nine activists involved and either already arrested or expected to be arrested are: Joy Mitchell (68), from Berwick, Morag Balfour (29) from Glenrothes, Jane Tallents (43), from Helensburgh, David Mackenzie (58), from Tillicoultry. Roz Bullen (31), from Edinburgh. Petter Joelson (22), from Glasgow. Graham Kaynes, Sue Brackenbury and Fungus.
David Mackenzie said: "I heard this morning that North Korea is threatening a pre-emptive strike against the US and its allies. The UK and US’s nuclear warmongering has made the whole world a much more deadly and unsafe place and it is looking increasingly likely that Trident will be used. Weapons of mass destruction are always in the wrong hands."
"Here at Faslane and Coulport we have the biggest concentration of illegal nuclear weapons in Western Europe. On 15th February in Glasgow we will all be showing our rejection of this hypocrisy and our grief over the many people who will lose their lives. This morning we saw just how much disruption a handful of committed people can cause here. On 22nd April people will be coming from all over Europe to close down the base completely for a whole day."
	
2nd	Three arrested at Menwith Hill
2nd February 2003 
Three arrested at Menwith Hill	

Last night three Trident Ploughshares activists were arrested for criminal damage at Menwith Hill Spy Base. Joss Garman (17) from Wales, Sylvia Boyes (59) and Olivia Agate (a pensioner) both from Yorkshire were cutting a hole in the perimeter fence when an MOD dog handler found them. They continued with their cutting and also painted on the fence ’No War On Iraq’ and hung a banner until armed MOD police arrived to stop them.
They have now been released and will appear at 1.30pm in Harrogate Magistrates Court on Thursday.
TRIDENT PLOUGHSHARES ACTIVISTS ARRESTED BY ARMED POLICE
Three peace activists were arrested last night after attempting to break into RAF Menwith Hill, a US Spy Base, and an essential part of Bush’s plan for war on Iraq as well as being one of the bases that the US government wishes to use for their controversial plans for “Star Wars.”
Joss Garman, Sylvia Boyes and Olivia Agate were arrested. Joss said, “Bush speaks of respect for the UN, but he has none. He has abandoned the Anti Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty) to push ahead with his plans for war in space, and now he wants to ignore the UN, the majority of the world’s people and Nelson Mandela, in threatening war against a people that have been savaged by sanctions for over ten years. Bush is a terrorist, and a greater threat to world peace than Saddam will ever be.”
This protest follows on from tens of previous arrests resulting from his peaceful actions with non-violent direct action group, Trident Ploughshares. This is a group aiming to rid the UK of it’s nuclear weapons of mass destruction through open and accountable, peaceful acts of people’s disarmament.
The protesters are to appear in Harrogate Magistrates Court on Thursday 6th charged with Criminal Damage after painting peace slogans on and cutting a hole in the perimeter fence of the base.
Notes
Menwith Hill is situated near Hardgate in North Yorkshire. Its functions include spying on personal communications and finding targets in Iraq. It is a key element in the expansion of Bush’s National Missile Defence Project (NMD), billed as "Son of Star Wars."

	

	

	

January
28th 	Peace Activists Close Trident Refit Factory In Derby
28th January 2003 
Peace Activists Close Trident Refit Factory In Derby	

Today activists from Trident Ploughshares have blocked the main gate at the Raynesway site at Rolls Royce Derby. Five activists locked themselves to the entrance gates with a variety of chains, padlocks and thumb locks, closing the factory just as employees were arriving for work. 
Both gates to the factory are currently closed and traffic is tailing back. The plant produces nuclear fuel components for the Trident submarines, which are powered by nuclear reactors. One of the 4 submarines, HMS Vanguard, is currently in Devonport docks, Plymouth, undergoing a re-fit, and new fuel plates will be transported by road from Derby to Plymouth as part of this process.
The group attached a banner to the gates, proclaiming "Rolls Royce: the driving force behind Britain’s nuclear weapons", and gave out leaflets to employees arriving at the site, explaining their presence.
A spokesperson said, "By closing the factory, we are delaying the production and transportation of the fuel components which are essential to the powering of the submarines carrying Britain’s nuclear weapons. We are also highlighting the hypocrisy of the Government, which is expounding the dangers of these weapons and at the same time threatening the world with its own weapons of mass destruction."
	
23rd	Blair, Hoon And Straw To Be Investigated For War Crimes!
23rd January 2003 
Blair, Hoon And Straw To Be Investigated For War Crimes!	

If, as appears likely, the UK is involved in the use of force against Iraq, the leaders of the UK Government will be investigated by the prosecutor of the international Criminal Court (ICC) if it breaches international humanitarian law (IHL). So promise a coalition of professors of law and leading NGOs from around the world. The UK, US and Canadian Governments have today been served with letters before action warning them of the consequences of an illegal use of force against Iraq. In the UK, Tony Blair was served at 10 Downing Street during filming for a Channel 4 TV programme on January 31.
The ICC came into being in July 2002 and is shortly to commence work. It will investigate and prosecute those guilty of "genocide", "crimes against humanity" and "war crimes". The definition of "war crimes" is wide and would catch indiscriminate methods of attack or weapon systems used by the UK and US in the 1991 Gulf War, and in Kosovo and Afghanistan. Whereas those wars took place before July 2002 any war in Iraq could be subject to the ICC’s jurisdiction. Thus the following which have been used in the past and are in breach of IHL are now prohibited:
  Indiscriminate methods of attack against civilian centres such as high level airs strikes and attacks on cities such as Baghdad and Basra. 
  Indiscriminate weapons systems such as cluster bombs, fuel-air explosives, multiple rocket launcher systems or weapons using depleted uranium. 
  Attacks on Iraqi infrastructure 
  Attacks on electricity supplies (so as to cause the death of thousands of innocent civilians because of failed water sanitation plants). 
  Attacks on projects likely to release dangerous forces such as civil nuclear energy plants or dams.
The coalition of lawyers and NGOs plan unprecedented action using the ICC legislation as a threat to force the UK to target its use of force and to avoid indiscriminate attacks. If there are violations of IHL (which prohibits indiscriminate attacks) these and other NGOs who will be in Iraq or otherwise in a position to monitor the war will report to a Tribunal of eminent international jurists and others. If the tribunal finds there have been violations it will report to the prosecutor of the ICC and he will be urged to start an investigation of his own initiative as he is empowered to do. Thereafter the coalition will work with the Prosecutor to ensure that the evidence of violations is credible the leaders of the UK Government who, under the principle of Command Responsibility, are liable for violations are prosecuted in the Hague.
Carol Naughton, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament said today: "The world has changed for the better since the 1991 Gulf War and we now have the International Criminal Court. We can guarantee Messrs. Blair, Hoon and Straw that they will be investigated and prosecuted if they repeat the attacks of that war, or in Kosovo and Afghanistan."
Phil Shiner of Public Interest Lawyers, the coalition’s UK lawyer said today: "The definition of war crimes is very broad and will catch indiscriminate methods of attack or weapon systems. The UK Government must ensure that all force used is targeted, discriminate, proportionate and necessary, otherwise its leaders face a similar fate to that of Milosovic."
Michael Mandel of Lawyers Against the War (Canada) and Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto said today: "Our governments are planning to commit nothing short of mass murder. They are planning to kill Iraqi civilians without any lawful justification or excuse. That’s a crime in England and in Canada and under international law. No one is above the law, not even Prime Ministers. If they do this terrible thing, we are going to see to it they are personally brought to justice. We are going to prosecute each and every one of them for each and every crime they commit."
	
20th	Helensburgh Court Challenged Again on Trident
20th January 2003 
Helensburgh Court Challenged Again on Trident	

Activists appearing on Trident-related charges today have again challenged the court to face the facts about Britain’s nuclear weapons. 
Morag Balfour (28), from Glenrothes and Sue Brackenbury (26), from Ayrshire, were charged with malicious damage for cutting the perimeter fence at Faslane in August last year. A warrant was issued for David Heller (26), from Gent in Belgium, who did not attend for trial.
Giving evidence Morag said: "I sometimes wonder if you realise why we do what we do." When she produced photographs of Iraqi children affected by depleted uranium Procurator Fiscal McCrae objected. Although Morag argued that this evidence was material since the photos showed what happened when nuclear weapons were dropped Justice of the Peace Fraser Gillies upheld the PF’s objection. Morag retorted: "I am not surprised at your decision, Mr. Gillies, but I am disappointed in you. We come here and we are not allowed to talk about the threat of war or the damage done by nuclear weapons, but I will say that we have a right to life these people who are the targets of our weapons are our brothers and sisters and the killing is done in our name. Yes, I did cut the fence but I don’t care what you do to me, you will never stop me acting on my beliefs. You are just going to have to put up with us until things change."
PF McCrae asked her to confirm that she had cut the fence. "Yes," she agreed, "and it was very therapeutic. At least I was doing something." Asked by the PF to identify the bolt-cutters produced in court as those she had used to cut the fence she said: "How should I know? One pair of bolt-cutters looks like another. What does it matter?"
Summing up Morag said: "I have nothing else to say, you will find me guilty anyway." On behalf of Sue solicitor Clare Ryan argued that the evidence given by the police did not show beyond reasonable doubt that Sue had cut the fence. JP Gillies found both guilty and fined them each £160.
Yesterday members of the Muriel Lester affinity group of Trident Ploughshares were among the 71 arrested during a demonstration and blockade at the British military command centre at Northwood, north of London. The main gate to the site was blocked for over 8 hours in a protest against the threat of war on Iraq.

14th	An Irishman, A Scotsman and an Englishwoman Were in Court...
14th January 2003 
An Irishman, A Scotsman and an Englishwoman Were in Court...	

The international character of the campaign against Trident was illustrated today as peace activists traveled from Ireland and England, as well as from Glasgow, to defend themselves against allegations of breaching the peace at blockades of the nuclear weapons base at Faslane. 
Veteran peace activist Joy Mitchell (58) traveled from Berwick for her trial in Helensburgh District Court. She told the court that for years and years she had lobbied and marched, written and argued against Britain’s nuclear weapons but no-one appeared to be listening. Instead, protesters were taken to court for simply sitting in the road at Faslane. She said: "The idea of being charged with a breach of the peace used to make me smile nowadays I find it simply insulting. Very soon we will be in the middle of a terrible war and this should be on top of our agenda, not wasting time accusing me of something I have not done. This whole process is fiddling while Rome burns." Justice of the Peace Nicholson fined her £100.
Nicholas McMurray (39) came all the way from Cork to be tried for his part in the blockade last February, at which he had been locked on to other protesters at the Fuel Depot gate of the base. In spite of eliciting from police witnesses the good-natured character of the blockade he was fined £80.
Craig Bryce (27), from Glasgow was given the same punishment, also for locking on at the February 2002 blockade.
Trident Ploughshares comment: "It is humbling for people who live close to Faslane and the court to see people traveling hundreds of miles to answer the charges and to remind the court of what the real issue in these cases is the menace of Trident. To date we have taken the court seriously we are still waiting for that to be reciprocated."
	
13th	Faslane Fine for Leader of Iona Community
13th January 2003 
Faslane Fine for Leader of Iona Community	

Today, as people protested in Loch Long and Edinburgh against preparations for the war on Iraq, Kathy Galloway, Leader of the Iona Community, was one of three people fined in Helensburgh District Court for challenging Britain’s weapons of mass destruction at blockades of Faslane naval base. 
Kathy (50) from Glasgow, was charged with committing a breach of the peace at the blockade of the base last February. In a powerful summing up she told Justice of the Peace Fraser Gillies that she had sung and prayed, taken communion and then sat on the road for a total of about five minutes, in what was a deeply felt matter of conscience for her as a Christian. The British government was preparing to wage a war on the grounds that another country possessed weapons of mass destruction. If the JP found her guilty she would be criminalised for doing essentially the same thing, but in a peaceful and nonviolent way.
Given that JP Gillies was on the bench the conviction and fine of £180 that followed were entirely predictable. Inigo Ayarza (39), from the Basque country but currently living in Glasgow, received the same penalty for taking part in the blockade of the base in October 2001 and Kate Povey, a voluntary worker in her twenties from Plymouth, was fined £160 for an alleged breach of the peace at the blockade of the base this February.
Trident Ploughshares comment: "As usual there was no evidence of any of the serious alarm and disturbance that are supposed to be the criteria for a breach of the peace, and as usual there was an automatic and prejudiced response from the JP. While purporting to deal with the law, this court is absolutely disconnected from the terrible reality that prompts our actions."
As the court was sitting Trident Ploughshares pledgers took part in a protest at the Glen Mallon jetty on Loch Long, where the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal is being loaded with munitions from the Armaments Depot in nearby Glen Douglas and others were involved in a highly successful blockade of the Edinburgh BAe factory, which makes electronic guidance systems for aircraft and missiles.
	
11th	Faslane Protester Jailed for 14 Days
11th January 2003 
Faslane Protester Jailed for 14 Days	

Yesterday peace activist Louise Robertson was sent to prison for 14 days after refusing to comply with a Supervised Attendance Order (SAO) imposed on her last year when she refused to pay a fine for taking part in the Big Blockade of Faslane in February 2001. 
Louise (53), a Women’s Aid worker from Renton in Dumbartonshire, was fined £125 in January last year for the alleged breach of the peace. After refusing to pay she was brought back to court in April when the fine was varied to the SAO, which required her to spend 30 hours in community service. She told the court then that she would not comply, a position that she has consistently maintained. She explained that she was already fully committed to working for the community and she felt that, for her, accepting the SAO, like accepting the fine, was giving in to unjust punishment.
The Justice in Dumbarton District Court yesterday said he had no option but to send her to prison. Louise will spend seven days in HMP Cornton Vale*. The JP was either unaware of, or ignored, the option of waiving the punishment which has been used by magistrates in such situations and would have been particularly appropriate given that the entire process has taken almost two years and that Louise’s position on the fine and the SAO has been clear from the start.
At her trial last year Louise told the court that as a socialist, a feminist and an anti-capitalist she could not tolerate a state which condoned violence, especially the extreme violence of Trident, at the same time as it under-funded basic services and condemned people to lives of poverty. Yesterday she added that with the same state now on the verge of going to war there was no way she would comply with the punishment.
*HMP Cornton Vale, Cornton Road, Stirling FK9 5NY.
	
8th	Savage Compensation Order for Aldermaston Protester
8th January 2003 
Savage Compensation Order for Aldermaston Protester	

Activist Allen O’Keefe was today ordered to pay £750 compensation to the Atomic Weapon Establishment at Aldermaston for cutting a small piece of a fence at the site during the Trident Ploughshares disarmament camp there in May 2001. 
Today the presiding magistrate at Newbury imposed the order after finding Allen (41), from Cromer in Norfolk, guilty of criminal damage. He also ordered him to pay £100 in court costs and gave him a two-year conditional discharge.
Allen said: "The magistrate was obviously attempting to make an example of me. I will not be paying the order, especially since the cash would go to the Atomic Weapons Establishment. There is no way I am contributing to a factory whose purpose is to make Trident warheads which are appalling weapons of mass destruction. The compensation order bears no relation to the slight damage that was done and I am considering an appeal."
Ulla Roder (48) a Danish Trident Ploughshares pledger currently living in the UK, who was jointly charged with Allen, is at present in Low Newton prison in County Durham, on remand after an action at RAF Fylingdales on 28th December last year and did not appear. She will now be tried on 18th February on the Aldermaston charge.
Allen’s compensation order brings to over £52000 the total of fines, compensation orders and court costs imposed on Trident Ploughshares activists since the campaign began four years ago. Very little of that has been paid and the punishments have had no visible effect on the determination of campaign members to challenge Britain’s blatant and hypocritical deployment of illegal nuclear weapons.
	
7th	RAF Fylingdales Activist Remanded
7th January 2003 
RAF Fylingdales Activist Remanded
As Geoff Hoon Meets Concerned Residents	

On the evening of Saturday 28 December 2002 shortly after 7pm, Ulla Roder (48) a Danish Trident Ploughshares pledger currently living in the UK and Graham Kaynes (31) from the UK entered the RAF Fylingdales Ballistic Missile Early Warning station in Yorkshire and were arrested while attempting to reach the satellite communication dome. The pair had cut through two fences and were cutting through the razor wire when arrested. 
Ulla appeared yesterday at Scarborough Magistrates Court facing charges of criminal damage and going equipped to commit criminal damage. The charges of going equipped have been dropped for the activists and both Graham and Ulla have been set a pre-trial review on Monday 3rd February 2003 at Scarborough Magistrates Court. Graham, who had been released on bail, no longer has to appear at Scarborough Crown Court on 10th Feb 2003 for trial by jury.
Ulla is being held on remand because she refused the bail conditions not to go within 500 metres of any MOD property in England and Wales. She did this on the basis that this case only concerned Fylingdales. Ulla is at HMP Low Newton, Brasside, Durham DH1 5SD.
Also yesterday, the defence secretary Geoff Hoon met concerned residents living close to RAF Fylingdales. He said, "It is important that the people living in Yorkshire are given the opportunity to contribute to the public debate on missile defence and the request to upgrade Fylingdales in particular before decisions are taken."
Assessing local concerns that the missile defence facilities might make Fylingdales a possible target Mr Hoon said, "We have considered this carefully and assess that it is highly improbable."
Trident Ploughshares pledger Marcus Armstrong said "Is Mr Hoon saying that the government won’t upgrade Fylingdales if locals don’t want missile defence in their back yard? I don’t think so. And he did not elaborate on the basis of his highly questionable assessment on Fylingdales becoming a target. He can’t fool everyone. Fylingdales would obviously become a prime target if it became part of US missile defence."
	
2nd	International human rights activist Angie Zelter deported from Israel
2nd January 2003 
International human rights activist Angie Zelter deported from Israel	

Prominent nonviolent peace and human rights activist, Angie Zelter, who arrived back in the UK this morning having been deported from Israel, has condemned the lawlessness of the Israeli authorities in the Palestinian occupied territories. 
Angie Zelter (52) was on her way back to Israel to give evidence in three cases involving settlers using violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. Part of her work with the International Womens Peace Service is to collect evidence of human rights abuses and in the absence of any proper investigations by the police she was prepared to put this evidence before the courts.
She said ’There is a complete lack of rule of law in the West Bank. It’s very hard to achieve any kind of conflict resolution when there is no peaceful way for Palestinians to find justice through the courts. The justiciary themselves chose to authorise my deportation rather than allow me to stay and give evidence, and this makes it clear that the Israeli courts do not wish to hear about human rights abuses carried out by armed settlers, some of whom are from the Kach and Kahane Chai terrorist organisations, supposedly outlawed by Israel and the US. Many Israelis are working for peace but if the Palestinians don’t have access to the courts to seek justice then the cycle of violence will continue. The other reason I’m not ’welcome in the state of Israel’ is that I’m working closely with Israelis who come into the West Bank with internationals and are shocked by the human rights abuses that they witness. This is adding to the split in Israeli society.’
The first case Angie was due to give evidence at was of a settler who attacked her and ripped the camera from round her neck thereby stealing the photographic evidence she had of a 75 year old man being attacked by Hebron settlers. This man later died of his injuries. The settler was never charged with destroying evidence and has now pled guilty to the attack on Angie, receiving only a slap on the wrist, therefore avoiding the court hearing anything about this old mans death at the hands of settlers.
There are two other cases due to come to court where Angie has photographs and testimonies about armed settlers shooting at Palestinians during the olive harvest in October 2002.
Angie Zelter arrived on Sunday Dec 29th at Ben Gurion Airport, Tel-Aviv, and was detained as a ’security risk’, denied entrance to Israel and was told she would be immediately put on a flight back to Britain. Her lawyer, attorney Shamai Leibowitz filed a petition in the Tel Aviv district court. Angie avoided being deported without even a court hearing when an Austrian Airlines pilot refused to take off after the Head of the Immigration Police had dragged her forcefully onto the plane.
On Tuesday, December 31, at the District Court in Tel Aviv, judge, Ruth Eliaz, authorised the deportation, telling her she wasn’t wanted in the State of Israel because of her work with the International Women’s Peace Service (IWPS) and because she had disrupted the demolition of Palestinian homes ordered by the government. Forty Israeli citizens who there present to support Angie told the court that they did want her there. After the verdict a large group of peace activists - among them Rabbi Arik Asherman - surrounded Angie in an effort to prevent police from taking her away and were themselves forcibly removed from the courtroom by security personnel.
Angie’s lawyer appealed to the Supreme Court to stop the deportation but this was rejected. A further appeal to the High Court is in progress and several civil suits have also been filed.
Photos of armed settlers attacking Palestinians are available.
See also http://www.womenspeacepalestine.org
	
1st	International Human Rights Activist Angie Zelter Deported From Israel on New Years Day	
1st January 2003 
International Human Rights Activist Angie Zelter Deported From Israel on New Years Day	
Angie Zelter, a prominent nonviolent peace and human rights activist from Norfolk is due to arrive back in the UK tonight having been deported from Israel on the grounds that she had ’disrupted the demolition of houses ordered by the government’. 
52-year-old English humanitarian worker Angie Zelter arrived Sunday evening (Dec 29th) at Ben Gurion Airport, Tel-Aviv, and was detained as a ’security risk’ and denied entrance to Israel. She went in order to testify in a criminal trial against a settler from Kiryat Arba who assaulted her, cursed her and spat at her face, when she photographed him throwing stones at Palestinians in Hebron badly injuring a young boy.
Angie was placed in a holding cell at the airport police station and told that she would be immediately put on a flight back to Britain. The UK intervened to stop the deportation temporarily. She decided to fight the deportation order and her lawyer, attorney Shamai Leibowitz, filed a petition in the Tel Aviv district court. The authorities realised that soon a judge might issue an interim injunction, so before the judge on duty could be found - the Ministry of Interior officials tried to force her onto an aeroplane.
Angie was assaulted by the Head of the Immigration Police in the airport, wrapped up in a blanket, and forcefully dragged to an Austrian Airlines aeroplane. She screamed for help, and tried to peacefully resist but they violently threw her onto the aeroplane. She continued shouting for help, and the pilot refused to take off and ordered the government officials to take her off the aeroplane. She was brought back to the cell at the airport. Meanwhile, at 8pm, the judge on duty finally issued a stay of the deportation, and scheduled a hearing for Tuesday, December 31, at 11:30 am at the District Court in Tel Aviv.
At the court the judge, Ruth Eliaz, authorised the deportation, telling her she wasn’t wanted in the State of Israel because of her work with the International Women’s Peace Service (IWPS) and because she had disrupted the demolition of houses ordered by the government! After the verdict a large group of peace activists - among them Rabbi Arik Asherman - surrounded Angie in an effort to prevent police from taking her and were themselves forcibly removed from the courtroom by security personnel. (Most of them know Angie personally from having picked olives together.)
Angie’s lawyer, Adv. Shammai Leibowitz started proceedings to get an injunction from the Supreme Court to stop the deportation pending an appeal. Last night this appeal was rejected
An IWPS spokeswoman said,
’The reasons for Angie’s deportation must be made public. By being forced against her will to return to Britain without legitimate reason, it reveals that Israel does not adhere to the rule of law in its policies towards nonviolent internationals who support justice for Palestinians.’
Angie Zelter will hold a press conference tomorrow morning (2nd Jan) in Central London please ring for details
Notes for journalists: Angie Zelter is a founder of Trident Ploughshares, a prominent anti-nuclear organisation. Her newest project is the International Women’s Peace Service-Palestine, a nonviolent human rights monitoring and intervention organisation based in the Palestinian Occupied Territories. Angie’s long-time peace work is the subject of a documentary currently being produced for British television. Angie was a recipient in 2001 of the Right Livelihood award, often called the "Alternative Nobel Prize".